Planeswalker
by Uncle Bernie
Summary: Ranma Magic The Gathering cross. The Sun hides his face from the dark world of Noirrie. In the darkness time is running out. Ranma is dieing, and only Doctor Tofu can save her. Ranma must find the power to summon the doctor before it's too late.
1. Mana Burn

Disclaimer: This is a Ranma/Magic the Gathering cross. So the characters and concepts from M:TG aren't mine either! They belong to the Geeklords of Wizards of the Coast. I'll go ahead and let you know if there's anything original though.

edit: Tried to fix the Wall o' Text problem. Hope it's better this way.

Chapter 1

Ranma was watching the Tendo dojo from a roof about two blocks away. You probably know the story already: He said something he shouldn't have. Got knocked into another area code. Was recognized by some tall girl wearing a green skirt that he'd never seen before, honest. Was chased for three hours by her cheerleader squad in the name of "love and justice." And finally managed to get his pants back without picking up any new fiancées. "Oh my! How manly! Ranma you pervert!" yada yada.

Yea well, now Ranma's sitting on a roof two blocks to the east. Nice secluded spot, trees, no lights, no ninjas. Good spot to think. Truthfully, Ranma wasn't really known for thinking. Didn't always get a chance for one. Kinda hard to drop down and "ponder" when dodging mallets and crap. Mostly though, thinking hurt. Yea, laugh it up fucker. It's kinda hard to explain, but dwelling on certain subjects like Jusenkyo, or the amazon village, or his mother's house, especially Mom's house, gave him a splitting headache that would last for hours. Ranma had no idea what caused it. He didn't even know it wasn't normal until he talked to a few people at school. Probably something his idiot father did to him when he was a kid. He didn't want to start running around like Ryoga, blaming his crap on his father and all, but, it's probably a safe bet.

The only reason Ranma would be risking such pain is the benefits that meditation brought to his martial arts. Meditation helped heal wounds and strengthen muscles. While in the proper state of mind, one could shatter steel, jump stories, or take one of Ryoga's hits without flinching. Unfortunately, think of the wrong thing at the wrong time, and bam, instant headache or internal burns. Pump enough ki into a fist and you could punch through a wall, but your arm would ache for a few days afterward. Luckily a different form of mediation, learned from a shrine he stayed at during his travels, taught him to heal his body with the same energy, or something similar at least.

Ryoga proved that ki and emotion could be thrown as a weapon with his horrible Shi Shi Hokudan attack. It was a pretty neat idea, use a wall of negative energy to flatten anything in your way. Too bad Ranma sucked at being pathetic. He had tried to learn the technique himself but had failed to achieve the proper emo mindset. In other words, he was simply too awesome to successfully perform the attack. Knowing that the attack fed on depression, Ranma had experimented with different mental states, finally settling on a haughty form of arrogance that was easier to maintain than crying like a lost child who couldn't get any bread. The effect worked, but it still had some bugs. He had to be winning or at least in good standing to be confident enough to knock the Shi Shi Hokudan out of the way.

Also, contrary to popular belief, Ranma's bravado was merely a front for his lack of social skills. Ranma was confident and arrogant, very much so, but it was more of a hot blooded "yea let's go kick his ass" kinda feel. Rather than the Kunoesque "bow before me you peasants" crap that could really knock someone over from across the room. The two bugs made his Toko Makabisha significantly weaker that Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokudan, but hey, it was a start. besides in order to get a "perfect" Moko Takabisha, Ranma would have to channel the Kunos, and that's just not something he wanted to do. The perfect Shi Shi Hokudan could be defeated by jumping directly above Ryoga's center of gravity and emptying oneself of emotion anyway. So there was no point.

Ranma did learn a lot about mental states though. Different emotions and thought patterns had different effects on one's ki. Depression and arrogance were heavy. Anger , love, Jealousy, all the "Akane" emotions are hot. Logical thought is cold. Which is how Ranma was able to "learn" the final part of the Hiruu Shoten Haa technique on his own. Actually it was cause he was trying to figure it out what to do next when he uppercutted Ryoga in desperation. It wasn't till later when he figured out the whole logic cold thing. Felt pretty stupid at the time. Ranma had also found that his "hot and cold" emotions and memories were more powerful than any other. Like the haughty kuno mindset for the Toko Makabisha for example. Or the calm orderly "one with nature" feeling that accelerated healing. On the flip side, Ranma's "specialties" were what caused the headaches.

That's what Ranma was doing up on the rooftop while he waited for the Tendos and his parents to calm down. Practicing the Soul of Ice, trying to figure out a way to freeze everything but himself. He'd managed to get it colder by dredging up memories, but he had not yet found away to prevent the damage to himself.

"One more time, then I'll try to sneak into bed." Ranma twisted his thoughts and willed his soul cold. Frost started to form on the roof as his breath became visible. He thought of Jusenkyo. Ranma poured himself outward. Cracking could be heard in the trees in the yard. Four meters, getting better.

Ranma was trying to cycle the ki throughout his body this time. The plan was to keep the ki moving to maybe Both his head and body started to scream in pain. In desperation he flung his aura into the surrounding air. A shock of cold blew out shattered frozen leaves, as an unconscious Saotome Ranma slumped onto the slick roof and slid to the edge, tipping over the gutter and coming to rest in the bushes below. The occupants of the house, having heard the crash in the bushes, called the police, who took the pig tailed girl back to the Tendo dojo. They couldn't explain the frost that covered the trees in the front yard however.

Ranma woke to the most horrible headache she had ever experienced. Light from her mother's alarm clock stung her eyes. "3:32 AM" the clock blinked at her. Once, twice, Ranma turned her head before a third beam of green light could stab her eyes. She lay there for a second, exhausted. she would have to get up though, if nothing else to make a trip to the bathroom, otherwise she'd probably still be out of it.

Laboriously rising to her knees, and then placing a aching bandaged arm down to the floor to push herself off her futon. Ranma swayed back and forth before regaining her balance and looked once more at the clock. "3:31" it blinked back. It's hateful green Arabic numbers staring her down. Ranma snorted her disgust at such untrustworthy concepts such as time. Time ebbed and flowed, minutes could take long as days, months could fly by in little more than a week. She had spent more than a year at the dojo hasn't she? Then, when was Akane's birthday? When would Ranma become seventeen? When would the school year end? Even after the power of the Dragon's Whisker had run out Ranma's sealed hair still hadn't grown an inch. She was still too worried to take it down. The sealing knot prevented natural hair growth as well as the growth from the Whisker. Ranma did not want to risk going bald at the age her father had. After all, if she could piss blood once a month as a man, then she could still go bald as a woman.

Still, habit aside, if the Whisker's power had faded, her hair should have been several centimeters longer by now, as the knot would no longer have any power. As she managed to stumble to the bathroom, holding onto the wall for support, she saw that her legs were no better off than her arms. Looking down, she could see bloody bandages covering her shins. She could also see, through her tank top, that her stomach and chest were similarly bound. Guess her attempt at forcing the ki out of her body had been unsuccessful. Ranma made it to the bathroom just in time for her stomach to protest it's mistreatment. Unable to make it to the toilet, she heaved in the sink. She recalled that she hadn't had anything to eat the night before.

A clock in the bathroom, continued to tick rhythmically on the wall. Ranma glared at the offending timepiece. and willed it to shut up. She wished time would leave her alone for a moment of peace. After the smallest red arm clicked backwards twice and stopped Ranma took in herself in the mirror. A beaten mess looked back. Blood shot blue eyes, peaked out amongst a shock of black curls. half bound within her usual pigtail. Dark circles sat under those blue eyes, framed by a pale bruised face. Bandages covered her body. Her white undershirt had blood stains on it, as did the bandages. Curious, Ranma let the water run hot and undid her pigtail. She splashed water into her face, and immediately wished he hadn't. It wasn't that his hair was growing, actually it wasn't, it was his limbs screaming at him in a new pain, that of too tight bandages digging into raw flesh. He yelped in as manly a fashion as possible and switched the water to cold before splashing his face again. Relieved, Ranma sat there and groaned for a while, as she tried to will her abused ki pathways to heal her body.

"Ranma?" Mom was outside the door. "I'm coming in." that wasn't a request but merely a warning to be decent. Ranma ruefully thought that she probably didn't look very manly right now, with her hair down, panting in pain, and covered almost head to to in ruined bandages. She secretly hoped her mother wouldn't be carrying around that stupid sword with her. No dice. Saotome Nodoka, both the most feared and most admired resident of the Tendo household, opened the door and walked into the bathroom, bundled katana and all. Ranma couldn't bear to meet her eyes. Even though she had previously declared her manly, that word still sent chills up her spine. How long ago had that been anyway, a month, three? It couldn't have been that long, it wasn't even autumn.

"Ranma, Doctor Tofu looked after you while you were unconscious. You were brought home by the police two days ago. You had fallen off a nearby roof after the area suddenly froze. You had no broken bones from the fall, but were covered almost head to toe in ragged burns. Dr Tofu mentioned that it seemed that these burns reached throughout your body, as if your ki had been somehow set on fire." Ranma's mother cupped her hand under her manly daughter's chin, forcing Ranma to look into her mother's eyes. "Ranma, I have full confidence in your ability to defeat this new foe if you ever meet him again. There is no reason to be ashamed."

"Mom," Ranma rasped painfully, oh how her throat hurt. "I wasn't in a fight, it was a training accident."

"That's a relief, It's good to know that there isn't some madman running around freezing martial artists alive. Still I want your word that you will be more careful in the future. Now come, lets go to the Furo. I had Kasumi call Tofu as soon as I knew you were up. We should have enough time to get you bathed and your bandages redressed. I'm sure you're eager to be male again." Ranma groaned and forced herself up. She and her mother proceeded back up the stairs too the bath.

An hour later, clean, male, and dressed Ranma was seated at the table waiting for Dr Tofu to show up. Seated was a good word for it. Ranma was asleep, his arms crossed and his head on the table. Akane and Kasumi were up too. Both casting worried looks at the sleeping martial artist. Ranma had fallen back asleep in the furo while his mother was off getting fresh cloths for him to wear. Since then it had been a chore to keep the usually hyperactive young man, well person, on his feet.

Ranma hadn't complained more than the occasional pained groan or sigh, but the way he gingerly moved on his feet, and the almost complete lack of balance were disconcerting. Both remembered the state Ranma had been in two days ago, the odd burns over her skin, and her confused mental state. Dr Tofu had to use some shiatsu points to help Ranma sleep, and had spent hours examining the burns. As he had explained it, the burns were caused by ki, and had burned through Ranma's own ki pathways. Ranma had been in serious danger of dieing, but the doctor had assured them that the boy would recover if given the proper care.

That had been two days ago. Nodoka was currently in the kitchen, making tea. Akane was staring at the purple burns on Ranma's neck when the door bell rang. Kasumi got up and rushed to the door. She came back a minute later with the doctor. Tofu was the same as always, silent yet cheerful, aloof yet alert. The only change since his 4 month sabbatical was his ease with Kasumi, who stood at his side. Tofu's glasses weren't fogged up, he wasn't dancing around the living room with his skeleton Betty. He hadn't misaligned anyone's neck. Perhaps his trip did him some good.

Kasumi cleared her throat, which sounded more like a bird chittering than a person coughing, "Ranma, Doctor Tofu's here. Please wake up." Ranma slept on, dead to the world as a log. Akane was debating with herself whether it would be prudent to wake up her fiancée with a small tap to the head, seeing as he was so sick and all, and since, well, you know, he always looked so peaceful when he slept sprawled out, uncaring. Kasumi was about to try again when Tofu stepped forward, held up a single finger, and spoke.

"Ranma." Although Tofu spoke in barely a whisper, Ranma jolted awake as if he had been attacked by his father. His hand lashed out to his front as if he were grabbing at a lapel, and his off hand was cocked back to deliver a vicious punch. Kasumi "Oh my"-ed. Tofu smiled, a warm smile that wasn't so common in Ranma's life, and spoke again, "Ranma, It's Tofu. How are you feeling today?"

"Like shit" Ranma said as he rubbed the skin above his right eye.

"Excellent, that's quite an improvement since the last time I saw you." Tofu said this with his usual smirk, like he knew something the rest of the world didn't, and that knowledge amused the hell out of him. "So, what have we learned about channeling large amounts of foreign ki through our bodies?" Ranma didn't remember him being this overtly sarcastic though, but then again that was a stupid thing to do, hindsight and all. "Yes, it's very dangerous. In fact it almost killed you." Yea, he's pissed. Ranma's mother handed Tofu a cup, distracting him for a moment. "Thank you Mrs Saotome. Where was I? Oh yes, your mother did tell you that the police found you face down in some old couple's rose bush, correct? Good, then I don't have to tell you why your head hurts so much, aside from the frostbite, the ki burns, and the briars Kasumi and I spent an hour picking out of you." Tofu took a sip from his cup and turned to Ranma's mother, "This Tea is excellent by the way Mrs. Saotome." He turned back to his patient, "So Ranma, you're never going to do that again are you?"

In the short time Ranma had known Doctor Tofu, he had seen him lay into a few patients in a way that the patient felt extremely foolish but had no idea the doctor was actually yelling at him. Ranma had until now, been spared that particular embarrassment. It wasn't like Tofu's "I'm a cute little pand- er, doctor" act could fool him. There was something about Tofu that was very dangerous, Ranma was sure he was at least as strong as his father, if not the two old farts. But Tofu had never openly demonstrated his skills, a side from putting Ranma's spine and ribs back together with a few pokes, or seemingly knowing when Ranma or one of his friends would be getting hurt. He also had that habit of popping up right behind Ranma for no other reason than to see Ranma squeal like a girl. All in all, it was always best to agree with the doctor. Even if he was laying into you in front of your fiancée and her sister

"Yes Doctor." Ranma sighed.

"Good" Tofu beamed. "Now, I'm going to go ahead and tell you that I know what you were _trying_ to do, and that I will help you, but I'm not going to tell you anything until you're healed and in my office for instruction. Now, lets have a look at those burns."

The burns, it turned out, were improving, but still needed time to heal. Tofu had noticed, and was pleased, that Ranma was once again able to accelerate his healing with his small reserves of green ki. He hadn't mentioned this to Ranma yet, as Ranma's body and mind had a long way to go before he would be comfortable risking another case of ki burn on Ranma's part. He just knew Ranma would try to draw green ki from the Chinese jungles or even Mount Fuji if given even a hint of what was going on. Tofu had tried to be subtle with his healing skills, using pressure points and lots of kneading to hide his skills. Even so, he was sure that Ranma would feel something, and just had to hope he wouldn't kill himself before he could get some instruction.

Well, maybe not, the massage had apparently been the straw that broke the horse's back. Ranma snored on the futon, oblivious to the world, so long as said world meant him no harm. Tofu could feel a part of Ranma's mind still active, watching, waiting. Another of Mr Saotome's poorly thought out_ techniques_ that Tofu would have to fix. He really should be getting paid for this. Maybe seeing Saotome Genma being brought up on charges of child abuse would be fitting restitution for his efforts; however, seeing Ranma and some of his friends ascend to godhood _would_ make this it all worth it.

A change was coming, a change to the very fabric of the universe, to all universes, but to this universe especially. Most realities are linked, feeding energy and matter across the fullness of a sort of "all-verse". Through death and rebirth, men and women drift amongst the stuff between worlds. Not so with the people of this reality. There are stories. Some about an apple and a snake. Some about the bastard child of a lonely goddess. Some about turtles, and clay sculptures. What it boiled down too, was that in your average plane only one in a million would hold the spark of potential. In this lonely world, that spark had proven to be quite common. The spark that would open doors across worlds, open ones eyes to new dimensions of space and time. the spark of godhood. The spark of a Planeswalker. Earth was literally a cage binding billions of young gods and goddesses. Each one living and dieing without knowing their true potential, or the real state of the multiverse. They were about to see the truth.

Interesting times.


	2. Color Theory

Chapter 2: Color Theory.

Disclaimer: Ranma ½ and M:TG aren't mine. Any characters from either property aren't mine. Magic's color pie, wheel, pentagram or whatever isn't mine either, though I'm putting a bit of a spin on it. I also don't own any angels, though I wish I did. "He looked at me funny, SMITE HIM! and get me some nachos."

AN: Apparently my worst offense last chapter was too big paragraphs. So I cut them down a lot. Hopefully it's easier on the eyes now.

It took Ranma a week of recuperating before Dr. Tofu deemed him fit enough to survive a minor bout of ki burn. That meant training. Not martial arts training, specifically, but hell, Even learning to cook was fun, if a little embarrassing. It was better than lying in a futon all day. He couldn't do the things he usually did, well, he could for a bout two minutes before everything started spinning and he had to replace his lunch.

It seemed like two months since his accident rather than the week it should have been. Ranma had been allowed to practice his martial arts forms, provided he could do them without throwing up, which had proven impossible. So it was back to lying around, reading old scrolls that his father had "liberated" from various dojos and temples.

That day Ranma had spent and hour and a half, or something like that, in the dojo getting poked and prodded as the doctor examined her burns. Ranma had an unfortunate run in with a vase in the upstairs hallway, so she was currently sporting boobs. Ranma had her shirt pulled over her head and held to her front, as instructed by Kasumi, who thought Tofu to be a little odd for some reason. Tofu's examination would probably have been thought of as weird anywhere but Nerima. He was currently tracing the patterns on her shoulders after having held his hands a few centimeters over her torso to check her inner organs, or so he said at the time.

"This is fantastic. These scabs perfectly correlate to your ki pathways. After you heal you'll be a walking acupuncture chart." Ranma failed to see how having targets tattooed on you body was fantastic. Especially with Chinese amazons running around, weird coot. "Ok Ranma, you look good enough to learn something, something small. Your first lesson will be manifestation."

"That sounds perverted doc." Ranma deadpanned.

"Yes I suppose if your vocabulary was underdeveloped it would." Ranma gave him her best glare. "It means turning your ki into something," he fished for a word, "visual? tactile? That means seeable and touchable by the way." Visual and tactile, Ranma knew those two already.

"I'm not stupid doc!" Ranma yelled.

"I didn't say you were Ranma, merely uneducated. Your school record isn't exactly a shining gem. And your attendance records are dismal. It's almost as if you spent ten years on the road learning martial arts with your father." Tofu smirked. Before Ranma could open her mouth to argue Tofu start talking again. " Now on to the lesson. The reason you almost died is simple. You had too much ki in your body at one time."

"The human body has a set amount of ki in it at all times. If this ki is depleted, you pass out and perhaps die. If too much ki makes it's way into your body the ki becomes caustic, that is it burns through your system. Especially if that ki is from a foreign source, as it is not quite in tune with the body mind or the soul. Most people who suffer ki burn don't develop such nice scars. They usually just burst into flames and run around screaming. I suppose you were lucky because you tried to cycle the stuff through your pathways for some reason." Tofu took a step back and raised his hand. A small blue ball hovered there. Mist seemed to billow from it.

"This is ki, Blue ki. As you can see I've manifested outside my body, that does two things. First, it's not burning through my pathways, which means I can hold it longer, still not forever, but longer than a few seconds. Second, when manifested, ki gains properties based on it's color. Blue, is cold, logical, and precise. It therefore usually manifests as some form of water or ice. Sometimes a storm, sometimes mist. Blue is an elemental color, so called because it is adept at manipulating all forms of matter and energy. It can also be used to screw with the laws of time and space. With Blue ki you'll be able to slow time around you, or even stop it's march for a time." Tofu waved his hand and the blue dissipated into mist.

"Next is Red. Red is Blue's evil twin so to speak." Tofu manifested another ball of ki. This one was chaotic, roiling. Flames licked off it's surface and it seemed to try to escape Tofu's grasp. "Red has many of the same properties as Blue. It's an elemental color, adept at manipulating the physical world around us. It also can be used to undo space and time in the opposite manner of Blue. With Red, you'll be able to move faster than time. Even step outside it's mist."

Tofu then brought his left hand up and brought the blue ball into being again. "However, always remember that the two colors are enemies on the color wheel. Red want's action, and wants it now. It doesn't want to be controlled. It makes decisions based on emotion, love or hate, pride or pity. Blue on the other hand wants to make decisions based on logic. It will do as is commanded,usually, but it's sneaky, keep your eye on it, or it will stab you in the back. It makes decisions based on information and logic. It's cold, unfeeling. Aside from intellectual curiosity, blue just doesn't care."

Ranma was following along intently. Some of this stuff she had figured out on her own through trial and error, though she never guessed there were colors to the different types of ki. "How many "colors" are there? She asked.

"There are five. But for this lesson, we'll only worry about these two." he held the balls forward. "These are your colors, Red and Blue. It is a powerful combination. Fire and Ice. Emotion and Logic. Fury and precision. Drive and adaptability."

"What are your colors Doctor? Ranma asked with intrest.

Tofu smiled and the right hand ball, the Red one, went out, and was replaced with a small green orb. It rotated in place like a planet. Motes of dust orbited around it coagulating into small moons. All the bugs in the room seem to be drawn to it, but instead of bumping into it, like they would a light, they simply flew around it.

"My colors are Blue and Green." Tofu had a look of smugness on his face. "Green, is the color of natural order, living things, and tradition. It has more primal aspects to it as well." He closed his hands, and the balls winked out. "Now, I want you to manifest your ki. Delve into your memories and draw ki from a place you've visited. Islands and lakes for Blue, mountains and cliffs for Red. Draw one color at a time, and hold it in a ball in your hand. Try to manipulate it if you can, but careful with Red, it has a tendency to explode. In fact, I'd rather you start with Blue."

Ranma held out her hands, and dove into her mind. She thought about Jusenkyo and felt the familiar tug. She instinctively tugged back, feeling the rush of ki with it. Ranma concentrated the ki into the ball as Tofu had instructed. She opened her eyes. The ball of ki in her hand was nothing like Doctor Tofu's. It was blue, but instead of mist it seemed to be made of rain. It was like she held a small storm in the palm of her hand.

"I'm doing it wrong." Ranma said sadly.

"No you're doing it perfectly. Your personality is different than mine. Of course you manifest ki differently. You don't always have to hold the manifestation in your hand either. You can throw it at opponents or use it as a shield, with enough practice you can change the phasic state of the water to ice or steam at will, although that will be easier with a touch of Red."

Ranma shrugged, and willed the rain to chill. She already had experience with this with the Hiruu Shoten Haa technique Cologne taught her. Rain became sleet and chilled further to become shards of ice. With a quick flick of her wrist Ranma sent the frozen spikes hurtling toward the doctor.

Tofu's smile became a grin he stepped to the side. He lashed his hand out and the Shards disintegrated into white powder settling on the floor behind him. "Remember, it's always a good idea to get out of the way of a spell, even if you plan to counter it. Otherwise you stand the chance of getting wet." Ranma stood in a ready stance. Ready for a counter attack. Tofu just stood there and wiped his wet hand on his robe. "Come, follow me outside. I'm sure Kasumi would be upset if we broke the dojo. And personal, I don't like to fight indoors." Made sense I guess, with his green side and all.

Outside Ranma and Tofu had gathered a small audience. Akane and Nabiki sat on the back porch with Ranma's mother. Knowing Kasumi, she was probably getting the water kettle warmed up. Tofu and Ranma took opposite positions in yard. Ranma called dibs on the dojo side. Many months of getting chunked into the carp pond had instilled her with a Pavlovian urge to keep away from the damn thing. If she ever did marry the tomboy and inherit the place, that thing was getting bricked up. fung shue be damned.

"Ready Ranma?" Tofu called. "Before we begin, I want you to try Red for a bit. Remember it's wild. You'll need to guide it rather than force it. Make it want to do what you want it to."

"Alright!" Ranma though of Phoenix mountain and mentally tugged. This ki was wild. It made Ranma feel like she was in the middle of battle. It felt fun and a little dangerous. Ranma forced the ki into her hand. It came out as a swirling burst of flame. the small firestorm danced in place above her palm. It seemed to want to move, to do something. She bounced it between her hands. Then noticed that the flame would simply move where she wanted it to go, keeping it still was another matter. If told to stay still the swirl of flame would resist and start rocking. That gave Ranma and Idea.

Ranma summoned more ki and added it to the firestorm. As she augmented it she compressed the flames into a ball. When it became the size of a baseball it began to audibly whine.

"Ranma, get rid of that thing before it explodes!" Tofu shouted. He began summoning mist around the yard.

Ranma threw the ball into the air. It went boom. It also showered the house and yard with fire. Fire that was thankfully nullified by Doctor Tofu's mist. "whoa" Ranma stared for a second at her hand. "I wanna do that again!" she yelled. Her stomach gurgled a bit, causing her to grimace. "Er, maybe not."

"Think you have it in you to go a short spar?" Tofu asked. "You throw something at me, and I'll counter it. Then I'll throw something at you and you try to stop it." Ranma wasn't sure if she was up to it, but she was having fun damnit. "Say when you feel sick, Ranma."

"Sure, bring it on. If I puke I'll just eat another breakfast after I kick your ass Doc!" Ranma began drawing ki and focusing it around her body. A storm of rain and steam surrounded her. Lightning began to flash from within the rain and warm mist began to cling to the floor. Tofu stood were he stood, waiting. Clouds began to form overhead. Ranma changed genders as the water warmed around him, earning gasps from his mother and the Tendos. Ranma whipped his hand out and sheets of water sped towards Tofu's face. They became frozen as soon as they left the maelstrom surrounding the younger martial artist. Ranma then opened a hole in the storm and chunked a ball of fire through to Tofu's legs.

Tofu pointed a finger at the ice and it shattered in mid flight. He then slammed other hand down from over head, the ball of fire was extinguished in a sheet of melted ice water. Tofu then cocked both hands backward and shoved. A cold wind howled towards Ranma. Ranma was surprised as he turned back into a girl and what remained of her storm was dripping off the side of the dojo. Tofu made a show of cleaning his glasses on a sleeve. "Your turn young lady. I am winning by the way."

Ranma, now cold wet and once again female, thrust her hands forward and shouted "Toko Makabisha!" Hey, it was a ki attack right? Perfectly in the rules of the battle. The ball of brilliant force hurtled Towards the doctor. Ranma didn't notice if it struck anything or what Tofu did to defeat it. She began to feel extremely sleepy and her stomach felt like it was doing back flips. She dropped to her knees and could have sworn the grass was reaching up to catch her as she passed out.

Ranma awoke on her back in a cushion of grass and clovers. She was startled a bit by a large orange butterfly slowly flapping its wings on the tip of her nose. Tofu, Akane, and his mother's faces came into focus as the bug flew off for less noisy perches. All three looked a little worried.

"I didn't win did I?" Ranma asked.

"Nope. Passing out kinda counts as a loss." Akane said. Ranma slowly tried to sit up. The past week had given her plenty of practice at taking it easy. It wasn't as intuitive as you'd think. Akane reached out and grabbed her hand and helped her to her feet. Ranma swayed a little but managed to stay up with Akane's help.

"I'm tired. What did I run out of ki or something?" Ranma yawned. Tofu handed her a cup of tea. She took it with her free hand and gulped it down. It tasted odd, as all of Tofu's mysterious brews did. Not unpleasant, just odd. It helped the dizziness and made Ranma feel a little more alert, but she still wanted to go to bed, female or not.

"That's pretty much it." Tofu said, taking the cup back. "Your ki pathways will take time to heal. until that time you shouldn't try to use your personal ki to augment any of your attacks. In time, you'll never have to rely on your own ki to fuel your attacks. That technique will still work, but you'll have to adapt it to draw ki from a different source. That was White, White ki primarily comes from sloping plains and farmland. You might have to practice a bit before you can use it again properly, but it's not really you anyway. I can see you zapping that Kuno boy with lightning though."

Ranma grunted and turned back into the house, hoping to snag a kettle of water from Kasumi before taking a nap. Sleep sounded really good. She was this close to just saying screw it and sleeping as a girl. With Nabiki and Happosai running around it wasn't really safe to be female and unconscious at the same time. Not to mention some of the other goofy individuals running around this side of Tokyo. Besides, curse or no, Ranma was a man, and she preferred to be one when she could.

Ranma made it to the kitchen to find it empty, no Kasumi, and more importantly, not steaming kettle of manliness.

"Oh well, just grab a cup of water, and.." Ranma took her newly acquired yen sign covered coffee mug, three guesses who's it was, and made her way to the tap. "fill her up, and bam! Man again." Ranma looked at her, well Nabiki's cup full of water, and stared at it for a minute, she needed to make the water hot. That sounded like something Red would want to do, but just holding Red flame under the mug would probably get her killed by Nabiki. That or on the cover of every porn magazine in Asia within a week. Ranma settled on trying to reverse the soul of ice. She drew a small amount of Red, bout a fingertip's worth of flame, and concentrated on exciting the water, kinda like a microwave. within minutes the water began to steam once it was hot enough, Ranma extinguished her finger with a flick and dumped the cup over her head.

Male once again. Ranma took off his now wet Chinese shirt and walked up to the room he shared with his parents. His father and Mr Tendo had been dragged on a training trip by Happosai. Ranma suspected it was Tofu's doing. He knew his wouldn't have gotten a moment's rest with his old man here. He waved to his mother and Akane. Tofu had left while Ranma was figuring out how to heat water. "I'm gonna take a nap for a bit. I'm beat after all that ki work." Ranma said as he climbed the stairs.

"I wonder where Kasumi went, I could use something to eat." He muttered to himself. It was probably good that she was getting out of the house once in a while, truth be told everyone just took her for granted. Still some food sounded good. Some rice with a few fish would hit the spot. Maybe squid. Ramna loved squid. But, Kasumi wasn't there to cook anything, and Ranma didn't feel right cooking when his mother was around. One could never tell what would set her crazy notions of "manliness" off.

As Ranma passed Kasumi's room he saw the door open a crack. Kasumi had been hiding in her room?

"Is the doctor gone?" He heard her ask.

"Yea he left just a few minutes ago. He was teaching me some wicked stuff with ki. It was like something out of a cartoon." Kasumi looked relieved. "Are you hiding from him?"

Kasumi lowered her eyes and stammered "No, I just. Ranma there's something different about him. Since he came back. It's like. It's like he's not Tofu, but someone else. It scares me"

Ranma didn't know what to say. He had been to busy learning what was for all intents and purposes magic to notice anything strange about the doctor. He was a lot snarkier than usual, but that was probably Ranma's fault after the roof incident.

"I dunno Kasumi, he seems the same to me, just a little angry at me I guess. I did hurt myself again today. Just a little bit though, some rest will clear it up." Ranma rubbed the back of his neck. What the hell was he supposed to say to calm the usually unflappable girl.

Kasumi looked Ranma in the eye. "Be careful with him Ranma, I'm not sure I trust him anymore." With that she closed the door. Ranma shrugged and continued to the Saotomes' room.

"sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep" he moaned.

In a cave overhanging the crashing waves of the sea of Japan, Doctor Tofu was digging amongst piles of gold and treasure. "Where is it?" Tofu waded through mounds of coins and jewels to a gleaming silver chest. He cleared the treasure off it's top and picked up a jade and obsidian plate. It looked like a Mayan calendar except the glyphs on it's face seemed to move on their own in a staccato rhythm, not that dissimilar to a clock face. hundreds of small glyphs representing the various components of the solar system circled around a picture of a lion headed serpent with wings.

"Finally, I really should create a better filing system." Tofu said with a grin. "It's getting hard to find my toys."

"Filing system?" A tall woman with green hair wearing a business suit was standing behind the doctor. "This place is a mess. When was the last time You've even been in here?"

"Four millennia, give or take a decade or two." Tofu flashed his grin towards his guest. If one looked closely one could see his eyes were heterocromatic, the left blue, and the right green. "If you see anything familiar, do let me know, my brothers and I tried to save what we could after your kingdom was destroyed. This for instance. Is older than the gate of eternity itself. It's a sort of a calender, map of the solar system and time piece all rolled into one. It should help up determine the cause of the temporal anomalies. Oh, and with the proper command it fabricates coffee and waffles!"

The woman pointed to a long golden sword strapped to Tofu's back. "And that?"

"This old thing?" Tofu smiled. "It belongs to my brother. I have a feeling he'll be needing it if the shrouds around the universe dissipate before we can act. There are things outside this plane of reality that would break your mind to think of. Now come Setsuna. We still have a lot of work to do, and waffles to eat."

Sailor Pluto shook her head, she hated dealing with Archons. "Of course, Lord Raphael."

AN part two: Yea, sorry for dragging this out. Ranma will planeswalk by next chapter I swear. After he fights Ryoga of course.


	3. Rapture

AN: Finally done. dies This chapter just kept getting longer and longer. Hope everyone enjoys it.

I've decided Manifest should be a keyword. Here's Ranma's trademark ranged attack as an example.

Moko Takabisha 2WW

instant

Manifest (3): _When this spell is on the stack, put three ki counters on it_.

Remove a ki counter from Moko Takabisha: Add W to your mana pool.

Tap target creature. If target creature's toughness is less than the number of white mana counters on Moko Takabisha, destroy it.

-----------------------------------------------------

Oh I haven't mentioned it yet, but this story begins during the tail end of the Time Spiral block.

Kasumi sighed as she checked her bag. After her mother died she had all but given up her life for her family. She had started caring for the house when her mother fell ill, and had shown promise for it. It felt good to help her family, and it was one her goals to have a family of her own someday. But it seemed like her duties were closing in around her. Akane was set to inherit the dojo, and Nabiki would be off to college and a career in business presumably. Where would Kasumi be in ten years. Would she still be taking care of her father, all alone? Caring for her family was something she enjoyed and took more than a little pride in, but when would she be able to find her own husband, make her own home, raise her own family?

Kasumi felt like she was walking in her own footsteps. Footsteps she herself carved into this very path every day since her mother fell ill. Felt like she was moving backwards instead of forwards. Maybe it had been a mistake to have rejected Ranma and forced Akane into the engagement. Had she accepted, she would have inherited an house of her own as well as had a husband. Granted it would have been a immature husband with a gender curse who had been raised by a wolf of a father, but he would have been hers. She would have had something of her own to fuss over. A family of her own.

Kasumi looked around the stalls of the market. Young eligible men never came here. How was she supposed to find someone? Her family probably expected her to marry that Doctor Tofu. The man who went crazy in her presence. How was she supposed to build a future with him?

Ranma stood before a mirror in the changing room of the Tendo household's Japanese style bath. As Tofu had predicted before, Ranma's ki system now stood out clear as day for all to see. An intricate pattern of white lines, whorls, solid marks, and weaves stood in sharp relief against the slightly darker background of his flesh. Nowhere on his body had there been an inch saved from the burning power that he had tried to hold within himself.

The scars made him look different, dangerous maybe, but certainly alien. Ranma had always felt distanced from the average resident of Tokyo. Born by the dozen in plaster molds, living life in numbered cells, they rode to work as salted fish packed tight in tin cans. As children they were taught never to act out, never call attention to themselves, never be different. Those who are different are freaks, outcasts, gaijin. Ranma had never fit in in Tokyo. He had been raised on the road. He learned in temples and monestaries instead of seated at a desk in a classroom. While others were reading books, and busying themselves with math homework. Ranma was learning to fight.

That's why he refused to wear that silly school uniform. He'd simply rather wear a skirt, as a man, than be trotted along in formation with all the good little sheep. He went to school at Furikan, but that didn't make him one of it's good little students. He lived in Nerima, but he didn't feel it was home. That's probably also why he still wore the clothes he stole in China. When He and his father had traveled to the springs Ranma wore the clothes of a Japanese martial artist. He was an outsider. When _she_ returned to Japan, it was in the clothes of a Chinese youth. Even in his own country, even in the city of his birth, he was an outsider.

Ranma sighed and drew ki into him and released it through his pores, the marks on his body began to shimmer and sway in place before fading into his skin. Looking back at him through the mirror was the old Ranma. The martial artist, fiancée to just about anyone with a pulse, and all round joke of the world. He got dressed and left the changing room. He had to get to the table before his fat old man ate everything.

"Fooooooood" Ranma hummed as he slid down the stair rail. He touched down lightly and makes it to the table in three steps, or hops, same thing really when you're the best. Taking his customary seat next to Akane, his plate was immediately under attack from the left as his father began the daily "speed training." Which makes NO sense when Ranma could grab roasting chestnuts out of a campfire without burning his hands. Akane seemed appalled by the display, but then she had look on her face every meal. Kasumi and Nabiki just kinda ignored it, Ranma's mom looked proud for some reason, and Mr. Tendo had his face buried in the morning paper. Knowing him, he probably hadn't flipped the page for ten minutes.

The two male, er, the one and a half male Saotomes were startled out of their morning game by Akane's shout of "P-Chan!" Sure enough, stumbling in from the back porch was a very well done side of ham.

"Oh P-chan are you ok? Who did this to you?" she hugged the charred piglet to her chest earning a exhausted squeal from the pig. Akane gently carried her pet to the table and set him down for a look. He was a mess. Patches of his black peach fuzz were burnt off along with some of his skin. he had blood trickling from his snout, but that was probably from being "abused" by Akane's chest. Pig was a bit of a pervert.

"Whoa, he looks bad." the always sensitive Ranma said while poking P-chan with his chopsticks.

"What? RANMA STOP THAT!" Akane "introduced" Ranma to a new mallet. Ranma's skin shimmered a moment before returning to normal, well, what looked normal to everyone else. Before anyone could say anything, Akane had P-chan in her arms again who seemed to be crying in pain.

"I wonder who could hurt Ryoga like that." Ranma wondered aloud, mallet still resting on his head. Was it a wandering martial artist, maybe another sorcerer like Dr Tofu, only with a preference for fire?

Akane turned to Ranma "What's he got to do with anything?"

Ranma paled a bit "Uh, hey, tell you what. I'll go clean his wounds so he won't get infected." Ranma reached for the pig, only to have Akane pull him back. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt him, I really need to clean him off and bandage him or he could die." Truthfully, Ryoga had no trouble taking care of himself, but Ranma needed to get him alone to force some information out of him. Besides, he was kinda worried about the lost boy too.

"I'll do it, ok?" Akane left the table and ran to the bathroom.

"Akane wait" Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Ranma was dead, he knew it. Akane would find out and mallet him, Mom would deem his failure to protect his fiancée "not very manly," and Mr Tendo would probably just cry in the corner somewhere.

Ranma started counting down mentally. "Five, four..."

"Oh my, I hope Akane isn't late for school." Kasumi started up the stairs. Ranma puts his head in his hands. That klutz was so going to dump the pig in warm water. which by the was was NOT the best thing for burns.

"Three, two, one." No screams, that's good. "one half, one quarter."

"AAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

"Damnit" Ranma muttered as his head hit the table.

In the bathroom, just before Ranma started counting down. Akane was having her hands full of a kicking black piglet she knew as P-chan. Trying to find antiseptic and bandages in a medicine cabinet while holding on to a pet that thinks he was going to get a bath was no small feat. She had seen how fast the pig was when he wanted to be. He had been chased by Ranma numerous times and usually managed to stay out of his grasp. Still, he usually let Akane hold him.

Ryoga had to get out. NOW. Not only was he in danger of being found out as P-chan. But That crazy foreign sorcerer was still on his trail. He had met him on the road and shared his meal. The sorcerer listened as Ryoga told his story about Akane, and how Ranma had ruined his life. The strange man seemed sympathetic and had offered to teach him a few techniques to defeat "this Ranma"

Those techniques, it turned out, were magic. As soon as Ryoga had said "I accept" The stranger revealed himself, throwing his dusty cloak to the ground. A young man stood before Ryoga, with long white hair obscuring his face. He wore a red tee-shirt and black leather pants. A silver chain was wrapped around his torso like a judo belt. He lifted his palms up, and blew over them. Ryoga barely dodged in time to save himself from being badly burned from the flame that the white haired boy sent billowing towards him.

The stranger's face split into an insane grin. "I am Uriel. Your education, and your atonement, begin now."

Ryoga didn't have much time left. He had to get alone with Ranma and warn him. Ryoga could almost feel the heat from that madman's chain on the back of his piggy neck. Ryoga struggled some more against Akane's grip. Normally he would have reveled in Akane's embrace, but not now. He had no time. Uriel was coming.

Uriel's sick idea of training had the lost boy fighting for his very life. Uriel began by blowing gouts of hellfire in Ryoga's direction. When Ryoga complained, Uriel shouted that if you can dodge flamethrower, you can dodge anything. Ryoga finally collapsed against a tree gasping for breath. This boy was insane. Ryoga was certain that he was going to die here. If he could take this lunatic with him, perhaps Akane would be proud of him.

Uriel's grin turned to a snarl as he saw his measly student slump beside a tree. This was such a waste of valuable time. Raphael's student had been on the verge of discovering his powers on his own. This boy, this pig, was still wallowing in his own mortality. Laying there against a tree waiting for death. How pathetic.

Ryoga opened an eye as he felt Uriel slowly approach him. He had one chance. Just a little closer. Ryoga thought about how he would never see Akane's sweet smile ever again, or how he would never be able to smell the scent of her clothes, or feel her embrace. This was it. He felt a hand snag his hair and yank upwards. This _was_ it. Goodbye Akane.

"SHI SHI HOKUDAN!"

In the bathroom, Ryoga couldn't take it anymore. He would regret this later for sure, but he had no time.

"P-chan!" Akane gasped. Her pet had bit her! Her little pig leaped onto the sill and out the window before she could even move. Why? "P-chan." Akane sighed, and moved to the window. She was roused from her attention by a jangle from behind her. Whipping around, she saw a young man. His snow colored hair made his face hard to see, but his build spoke of a westerner. The color scheme of his clothes reminded her of Ranma, but the effect, along with the chain belt, was completely opposite. This boy was seething, murderous, and he was alone with her in the bathroom!

"AAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Ryoga hesitated as he heard Akane's scream. He's here. Ryoga ran as fast as his hooves would carry him. His piggy vision barely made out a black and red shape running towards him. "Uriel!" Ryoga thought as he hit the brakes, his hooves sending up sparks as he burned out grooves in the wooden floor. He was about to be caught again. He had to get away somehow. Ryoga tried to jump to the side, but was caught by the bandanna and hauled the way he came. Ryoga closed his eyes and trembled.

Ranma was running up the stairs with his hand clutched around Ryoga's bandanna. The burned piglet squealed pitifully as he was strangled by his own headgear. Ranma didn't care, something was in there with his fiancée, and judging by the trembling piglet in his right hand, it wasn't a naked Ryoga.

Akane fell back to a corner and sank against the walls, wide eyed. The stranger hadn't moved a muscle since he appeared in her bathroom without a sound. After a few tense seconds he sniffed a few times and turned his head. His hair swayed a bit with the movement. Akane couldn't help but think he would have been quite attractive if not for the dreadful feeling he gave off.

"I'm looking for a student of mine, perhaps you've seen him." The stranger said, apparently at Akane, thought he wasn't even looking in her direction. The tone of his voice was odd, almost musical, and familiar in a way Akane couldn't place. "Tell me, have you seen a young man with fangs wearing a yellow bandanna? "He'd probably asking where to find some place half way across the country. Probably covered in burns too."

"Y-you mean Ryoga?" Akane managed to finally reply.

"Yes, Ryoga. So you know him. Is he here?"

"No, we haven't seen him in at least a month."

"Well then, Have you seen a small black piglet, wearing the same bandanna Ryoga always wears?"

"P-chan?"

Ranma crested the stairs and was running down the hall when he heard a solid bump from the bathroom. He made it to the changing room door in five steps, though leaps would have been more appropriate. Ranma drew in power from everywhere he could think of as he opened the door. Whoever was in there was in for it.

Akane paused for a second. Why did P-chan wear that yellow bandanna? Her moment of revelation was interrupted by the door to the hallway slamming open. The stranger's arm leap out palm upward in the direction of the door. He took a deep breath and blew, as his breath reached his palm it burst into flame which flew onward towards the now open door, and Akane's finance who was now barreling through it's frame.

Akane called out "Ranma" just as the flame seemed to bend in mid air, and spiral into Ranma's left palm. In his right he held Akane's pet. Ranma threw the pig towards the bath and gestured again. A bubble of water swirled into existence in the middle of P-chan's flight. P-chan disappeared, in his place was a wet, burned, and very naked Hibiki Ryoga, still wearing his trademark bandanna of course . Akane was speechless. Her pet was, she had been sleeping with, Ryoga had been...

"I don't know who you are and I don't care, but that's my fiancée you're messing with!" Ranma roared as he dove at the white haired stranger with a flying kick.

The stranger stepped and twisted his body, his torso moving a foot to the left. He grabbed Ranma's foot and used the leverage to fling the boy into Ryoga, who was still wet, burned and very, very naked. "At least Raphael's boy fights back." he snarled, as he walked towards the two.

Ranma jumped up and manifested his storm. Shards of ice and bullets of hot water drove the white haired boy back against the wall. Before the sorcerer could recover Ranma flung herself forward intent on pulverizing the pervert. Time seemed to slow around her as she sped up. surgically placing her fists and feet in strategic locations that would insure a very bad week for the recipient. "Lets see how this guy likes pissing blood for a while," she thought.

That thought was interrupted by a burning slash across her back. Ranma looked back to see the foreign boy standing with his hand grasping Ryoga's neck. His other hand was holding a silver chain. Ranma looked back to the person she was fighting, an exact duplicate of the boy smiled back, before catching fire.

Ranma jumped to the middle of the room. "Who the hell are you?"

The strange boy cocked his head and brushed his hair out of his eyes, red irises stared out from pitch black eyes. "My name is Uriel. I am the brother of your teacher, and I've come to reclaim my student. Ryoga should stay and atone for what he's done to the girl. But it's important that he continue his training." In the corner Akane started to stir at the mention of Ryoga "You too have much to answer for, you could have told her at any time, yet you placed your honor above hers. Perhaps that is the reason you were cursed to be female, your arrogance."

Ranma's face dropped. That had hit below the belt. "But, I made a promise, a promise between men."

Uriel snorted, "Neither of you are men. You're a girl and he's a pig." Fire and darkness began to swirl around Uriel and his prisoner. With a small flash the two were gone. Silence held court for a minute or two before Ranma heard what she had forgotten about dreading earlier.

"...Ranma you IDIOT!"

"So, Setsuna, sweety, found anything of merit in the past five hours?" Dr Tofu, or rather, Lord Raphael, he had so many names really, smartly awakened the ancient Warrior of Time from her slumber. The two had set up shop in a hastily created room within the domain of the Gates of Eternity. Just beyond the magically created wall behind Raphael's back lie his sister Hanael's most prized creation. A window into which one could gaze and divine, well anything. The past, the future, other possible versions of the present, other worlds, anything.

The people of Setsuna's time simply believed it to be merely an incredibly powerful means of altering the past and future. It's "guardian" could planeswalk to any time or place in the universe through it. It showed the future, and what it took to get there. Lady Pluto, if she were inclined, could even shut time down. This forbidden act was in fact, a glimpse into the Gate's true horror and potential. Time, wasn't just a sequence of events leading from one experience to another. Time was everything. Time held the universe together, and it was time that was now threatening to unravel it.

Setsuna jumped and sat up blinking when she heard Raphael's voice behind her. "Damn Archons, sneaking up behind you and acting like they already know everything there is to know." she muttered under her breath, completely oblivious to the humor in such a statement. She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, only to jump again as Raphael's off colored eyes stared into hers as he leaned over the table.

"Coffee and waffles?" The Archon slid the offered foodstuffs towards her.

Pluto snorted, "I'm about sick of waffles, thank you very much." She found herself eying the coffee however. Raphael took the waffles and left the coffee. Setsuna blew a few breaths into the cup before taking a gulp.

Raphael cocked an eyebrow, "That coffee wasn't exactly cool."

Setsuna shrugged, "I've been drinking coffee for quite a while, used to it." She took another draught, longer than the first. She then slammed the empty cup down on the table and began going through the papers scattered on it.

"So are you trying to act all 'hardcore' just to impress little ol' me? Raphael had made quote marks with his fingers at the word hardcore. He could have sworn his pretty little assistant turned a shade of purple at that comment. Raphael judged this as a good time to leave. Coffee cups to the cranium do hurt after all. Maybe now would be a good time to check on Ranma's progress, now that Setsuna was up and productive again.

"Stupid Tomboy." Ranma muttered as he ran atop a chain link fence. Thanks to Akane, he now sported a nice bruise on his forehead in addition to the burn on his back from Uriel's chain. After Uriel had vanished with Ryoga, Akane had screamed at him for fifteen minutes about how_she _had been sleeping with Ryoga, in pig form of course. Of course she didn't want to hear how he had made a promise, and all the times he had called Ryoga P-chan or vice versa, no she just huffed hollered and nailed him with a convenient mallet, like always. He woke up later, very dizzy. It had taken him a bit to get his bearing and took at the burn on his back. By the time he was ready to go, first period was probably already over.

Ranma stopped for a second and stretched his back. The burn on his back burned and itched like hell, but been clean as far as he could tell with a couple mirrors and a light. He had even asked Kasumi to apply some of her well used burn cream on it, but it still felt like it was on fire.

"So, you've met Uriel I take it?" Tofu was standing two sections down, examining his fingernails, the other arm behind his back. Ranma jumped down and walked to the doctor. He tried leaning on the fence, only to wince in pain and jump for a few minutes.

"Yea, great guy. Doesn't talk much though." Ranma snorted.

"Oh trust me, when he's interested in something you can't get him to shut up." Tofu gazed piercingly at Ranma, "he's just mad because he couldn't "train" you. I pulled rank on him because I know you've already endured ten years of what Uriel considers "training" and I didn't feel you'd respond well to it."

Ranma blanked for a moment. "I trained with my pop."

Tofu sighed and reached behind him pulling out a fluffy white...

"CAT!" Ranma tried to run, however Tofu had snagged the back of his shirt, so all he was able to accomplish was to dig furrows into the concrete with his flailing legs.

Tofu dispelled the illusion with a wave of his hand, the cat gave one final sad meow and disintegrated into a swarm of butterflies, which flew off. "The only difference between what Genma put you through and what Uriel is now entertaining Ryoga with is intent." "Genma was negligent, he didn't think about the effect the nekoken would have on your psyche. Nor did he pause to consider the ramifications of whoring out your hand in marriage for food and lodging, which I might add, he's still doing even to this day."

Ranma nodded, still shivering. Ranma's engagement to Akane were what kept a ceiling over the Saotome's heads, and he knew it.

Tofu continued "Uriel wants to see how far he can go before you break down. He believes that mental strength is the most important thing, and will go to no small length to break you down and rebuild you, in his image." Tofu reached over and placed his hand on Ranma's back, right were the burn was between his shoulder blades. "You've already gone through that with Genma, I felt it would be better at this stage in the game, to teach you some kindness, and maybe a few social skills."

"Ryoga on the other hand. He's traveled and gotten lost, but the hell he has seen is nothing compared to just you're experience with the nekoken, let alone the rest of Genma's brilliant ideas. He's physically strong, but mentally weak. Uriel might do him some good." Tofu removed his hand from Ranma's back.

"Hey, what'd you do?" The burning and soreness in his back had ceased.

"Uriel's chain belt burns for three weeks, but never gets infected, nor leaves a scar. It's meant to teach a lesson, but I feel Akane can handle that on her own." Tofu said with a smile. "Now, you'd better get going. Today is a very special day. And do watch for any temporal anomalies, just like I told you before."

Ranma made his way to Furikan High. Now that his back had been heal by Doctor Tofu. Ranma made much better time. He could already see the school gates. Ranma doubled his pace. He could see someone waiting in the court yard. "Must be Kuno" he thought as he raced through the gate.

"SHING" Ranma was forced to flip and tumble as needle sharp vines burst through the ground of the courtyard. What now?

Sure enough the figure standing in Ranma's way was none other than Tatewaki Kuno, arrogant dumb ass and total embarrassment of Furikan High, not to mention the principal's son. Kuno was spouting some nonsense about wanting revenge for Akane and feeling validated on his claim that Ranma was indeed holding her through magic.

"You want magic? I'll give you magic dimwit!" Time slowed around Ranma once again as he picked up speed. One of the first of his techniques to be improved with his new knowledge, and Tofu's guidance, had been the Imperial Chestnut Fist. Where as before it was merely a "move faster until you can do this" training method, now Ranma used both Blue and Red ki to slow the flow of time around him and accelerate the flow within. This gave him plenty of time to pick and choose targets, rather than simply hitting the same spot five hundred times. Before Ranma was a blur, now he could demolish people _before_ he began moving. If an onlooker could some how make out Ranma's movements, they would appear to be in reverse. And if Ranma wasn't feeling generous, he could ensure that his opponent would go to the hospital.

In the middle of his new Roasting Chestnuts Reverse Dance technique the vines were no longer an issue. That left Kuno in a bad position. Ranma smirked as he saw Kuno's slowly moving mouth form words out of order, it would be so easy to reach in there and cauterize his tongue. But no, Ranma's not that kind of person, he merely reversed his body's ki to opposite that of the blue thunder, this of course cause an electrical attraction, he then tapped the Blue thunder on the head, and reveled in the blue lightning now coursing through Kuno's ki pathways. Now that was poetic.

Kuno fell backward with a thud. He trembled a few times and then lay still. He wasn't dead or anything. Ranma had been trained how to do that by a doctor after all. Ranma was a little concerned with the vines though, apparently Kuno wasn't the one controlling them, as they were still freaking moving!

Then the lunch bell rang, and students filled the court yard, as news of Ranma's new powers had already spread through the school. Ranma filled the air between his hands with raw Blue ki. Green and Blue were enemies, Green represented life through order, which was maintained by energy. One of Blue's many aspects was cold, the absence of energy. Just as standing naked in a blizzard would kill you, it would kill the vines that were attempting to snare Ranma's ankles.

Ranma willed the ki cold and plunged it into the ground. "Soul of Ice revised: Summer's End!" Leaves crackled and warped and grass died as hoarfrost spread across the courtyard. Some of the students jumped and swore and began to back up. With the ground frozen solid, the vines moved no more.

Ranma dusted off his hands and turned around. There stood Ryoga, badly burned, hunched over, and griping him stomach.

"Ranma." Ryoga snarled. "You betrayed me. You brought me back to that madman!"

Ranma interrupted hotly, "Hey, I had no idea he could be in two places at once. Besides, you were supposed to help me protect Akane!"

"You revealed my secret to her!"

"YOU USED IT TO SLEEP WITH HER!"

The growing crowed gasped at that last accusation. More than a few of the students shouted "Kick his ass Ranma!" As the crowd started chanting Ranma and Ryoga started circling each other. For the first time, in all their fights, Ranma really wanted to hurt Ryoga. One punch, Ranma would end this with one punch.

To those watching The Reverse Dance technique seemed instantaneous. One moment Ranma was standing two meters from the lost boy. The next Ryoga was bent backward with Ranma's fist planted in his jaw. The crowd found themselves pushed back by an wall of pressure. Spectators who remained in their classrooms to watch the fight at a distance were shocked to see the windows rattle and crack. Most had time to turn and cover themselves before the windows blew inward.

Ranma pulled his fist from Ryoga's face and stepped back. That. Felt. Good. Ranma could hear the crowd cheering. He watched as Ryoga stumbled backwards and hit the ground. Blood sprayed from his mouth from the fall. Some of the boys were chanting "Ranma, Ranma, Ranma."

Ryoga was down but he wasn't out. He used his newfound connection to the earth to pull himself back together. Uriel was a madman, but Ryoga did owe him something. If not for his training, there would have been no way to beat Ranma if he knew techniques like that.

Ranma turned around and started walking home. He was sure he would be suspended for this at least, but he didn't care. He wouldn't care if he were expelled at this point. He was pretty sure his life with the Tendos was over. Akane would declare their engagement over, Soun would wail and his father would call him a disgrace. Screw them all.

Ranma didn't notice the sky darkening, or the cold wind blowing in from all directions. He didn't notice the crowd's cheering intensify. But he did notice the ki. Green ki was flowing from the ground into Ryoga, and he was getting up.

"RANMA! DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME!" Ryoga got to his feet and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. "SAOTOME!"

Ranma stopped and turned around only to find Ryoga running after him with a fist cocked for a body blow. Caught flat footed Ranma couldn't dodge the attack properly or even fully block it. Ryoga's fist collided with Ranma's which were clenched before his abs. The force of the attack cause Ranma to skid three meters back. He fell to his knees and puked what was little was left of his breakfast.

Ryoga grinned smugly. "I'm going to make you suffer, Ranma. BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"

Tofu smiled at the cute receptionist and headed to the appointed room. Held in his left arm was a six foot object bundled in purple cloth. A gift, for his brother. As Raphael, he wasn't just the living embodiment of science and tradition, he was also apparently the keeper of other peoples crap.

A hung over Uriel had once left a box full of BDSM paraphernalia at his horde one morning after a rather bloody week in the Balkans, swearing "Never again." Gabriel still had a ton of clothing in there somewhere. Ariel, Hanael, and Jophiel all brought stuff for Raphael to look after before they disappeared long before the bible was even written. Shoot, even Samael, the messenger of secrets, had things over there, they'd poison you if you even looked at them funny, but they were there, in his house.

Tofu opened the door to his brother's room without knocking. Brothers don't knock, it's tradition, and Raphael was all about tradition. "Here's your damn sword Michael." he spat, and threw the bundle at the dirty blond man standing over the room's bed.

Michael caught the bundled seven pound sword with one hand. He raised an eyebrow at his brother. Who was acting pissy again, and unwrapped the velvet bundle to reveal his sword. The golden sword shone like a tinged mirror. A lion headed dragon was etched in the blade before the hilt. Other than that, the blade looked simple, much like it's owner. Michael stood an imposing 6 foot 2, and had a severe face with short dirty blond hair. He looked nothing more than your stereotypical western soldier, wearing a nondescript gray business suit. He had no off color eyes or long white hair, or anything else to mark him as a being different.

And that was how he like it. "Cool, thanks bro." He turned back to the bed, which was strewn with equipment, some of it magical, some military.

Raphael shook his head and disappeared.

Ranma stumbled backwards against a tree. He had taken a point blank Breaking Point followed by a fury of kicks and punches, and apparently he still wasn't at a hundred percent, as his stomach was doing cartwheels and his head was starting to swim.

That's ok, I don't need to be at my best to beat Ryoga. The only reason he ever learned anything was because of me." Ranma thought.

Ranma stood up and took a deep breath. Ryoga was charging him again. Ranma jumped up and planted his palm on the top of Ryoga's skull and used it as a springboard to flip over him. Upside down in the air behind the lost boy Ranma grabbed Ryoga's face with both hands and used his momentum to throw the juggernaut through the stone fence. Ranma bent over and retched again. He then stood up and wiped his mouth with his wrist. His glamor chose that moment to fade revealing his scars to his fellow students.

The student body of Furikan gasped at the sight of Ranma's scars. All they had heard was that Ranma was out due to a training accident. Ranma paid them no head. Instead he looked up. The sky wasn't so blue anymore. Good, let it rain. It matched his mood perfectly.

Akane sat before the television at the Tendo house. She had pretended to leave for school to fool Ranma, but truthfully, she didn't feel comfortable there today. She felt dirty. Having just found out that she had been sleeping with a Jusenkyo cursed boy for the good part of a year, and that her fiancée, no, her boyfriend knew the whole time had taken it's toll on her. She was watching daytime game shows with a trusty box of tissues and a pillow to keep her company. she jumped as the show she was watching was interrupted by the beep of a weather bulletin

"Local Radar shows a massive storm forming over Nerima ward, Tokyo at 11:42. All residence are advised to find shelter immediately. The building cell is stationary and is expected to produce heavy rain. Lightning and hail are also expected. Stay tuned to Channel 6 for more updates on this bizarre weather."

Akane shivered. Could it be Ranma?

Raphael's hands blurred over four keyboards. A translucent screen hovered before him with code racing faster than the human eye could see. As soon as he had gotten back from his visit with his brother, Raphael had thrown himself back at his work. As important as it was to ensure that Earths defenses were at fully ready in case the veils protecting the Universe failed, it was all the more important to ensure that the fabric of time would not unravel. That was the real reason he had been angry with his brother.

Raphael stopped and looked up as Uriel appeared out of thin air. He was looking more sullen than usual. No longer watching the screen, Raphael turned to his brother. "So, hows Ryoga?"

"Sniveling pig ran away again, I'm starting to think he's already planeswalking." Uriel replied.

"Oh, well that's good. So how well has he taken to your training?"

Lightning flashed as Ryoga stepped out of the hole he had made in the boundary wall. He had to throw a bolder off himself, so he decided to hurl it at Ranma. Who smashed it with a punch. Ryoga claps his hands together. A strange green and red light began to shine form between his fingers. Ryoga roared and threw his arms backward. Leaves and thorns begin to crawl up Ryoga's arms and his feet were encased in packed earth. Finally, vicious foot long spikes grow from his fists.

"I'm going to kill you Ranma!" he shouted smoke blowing from his open mouth.

Uriel shrugs and says to his brother, "Well enough"

Thunder rolled all around as lightning crashed. In response however, the ground was alive with weeds and brambles. Saplings even began to pop out of the ground. The crowd had decided to give the two combatants some space. Not least of which because the strange effects they were having on the yard.

Ranma sneered at his opponent. So Ryoga had learned magic from Uriel. That explained the vines earlier. This was no longer a battle between martial artists, it was now a fight between sorcerers. A fight that Ranma was confident he could win.

Ranma cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted. "Kill me? You and what army bacon breath!?" Two massive boars burst from the ground in a fury of burning leaves beside Ranma. Ranma jumped to avoid their tusks as they tried to disembowel him. Ryoga then joined the fray, with his razor sharp thorns adorning his arms he was now a whirlwind of death. Ranma started dodging like his life depended on it. Ranma quickly drew in some Red ki and began manifesting fire as he started his spiral. He supposed he was lucky that Ryoga didn't think or this would have stopped working a long time ago.

Ranma ducked as Ryoga came in with a wild slash. Ranma immediately blasted him with fire and continued the spiral. He merely noted the tickling sensation on the back of his shoulders. Two more steps. Thunder rolled in the background. Black hair blew around his neck and into his eyes. Ranma was at the center of the spiral. He drew in all the Blue ki he could manage and willed it oh so cold.

"Eat this! Hiruu Shoten Ha!"

"And now from Europe, two men in odd dress are holding police off with what appear to be flamethrowers. French officials believe the two men are responsible for a rash of arson attempts across Paris in the last few hours. and now we turn to Mosc.. BEEP, BEEP..."

All the residents of the Tendo house came into the living room to watch the weather bulletin The rain had recently begun to come down in typhoon like sheets. Thunder was almost continually rolling, and lightning was flashing around the house.

"Attention. Local radar had detected a cyclonic event in Nerima ward, Tokyo." Akane didn't bother to listen to anymore before she ran to the front door and began putting on her shoes.

"Akane! what are you doing?" Saotome Nodoka said from behind her. "It's too dangerous to go out now."

"Auntie, It's Ranma. He must be fighting that foreigner who beat up Ryoga." Nodoka took Akane's hand and pulled her back from the door. "He's in the center of the storm I know it."

"And all around him are walls of wind and rain," Nodoka shook her head "You can't go out in this storm"

"But, what if he doesn't come back this time?" Akane tried to wrench free of Nodoka's grasp. "You don't understand, Uriel is a monster!"

"Akane, Look outside. That's Ranma's power" A crack of thunder added emphasis to Nodoka's statement.

"He'll defeat this Uriel, and he'll come back to us, like he always does."

"But.."

Ranma dove to the left as boar number two gouged a good foot of earth out of the ground where he stood. Ranma directed Ice shards at it as she rolled to her feet. A few cut and stuck but the beast's thick hide prevented any real damage. It did have a noticeable limp from being thrown forty feet into the air however. But that hadn't been enough to stop it. Ranma quickly reversed direction as boar number one charged for her head. It missed her shoulder causing her wet hair to whip up and plaster her in the face. Ranma had lost her dragon's whisker sometime when walking the spiral step. This rain was making it hard to fight.

"Bwee!" Ranma dodged a gout of fire from the direction of Ryoga's squeal. The little pig had somehow figured out how to breath fire in cursed form. Figures. Ranma paused as she heard grunting noises from her flanks.

"Just great." she muttered.

The two wild boars leap at Ranma in a pincer attack. She lashed her arms out and dove out of the way. Two frozen boars collided together, shattering in midair. Ranma came to her feet and retched again. Bent over panting she spit out a combination of blood a bile. Her stomach hurt like hell. She could feel the rain drip of the ends of her hair and falling into the writhing vegetation.

"I'll kill you eventually, you might as well give up Ranma!" Ryoga shouted.

Ranma stood up and turned to him, clutching her stomach. He was human again, holding an umbrella made of a oddly grown sapling. Ranma mentally force her stomach to quiet. She rushed forward to deck him in the face.

"Your still a thousand years too early Hamhock!"

"Temporal activity seems to be stable for the moment. Wait, there's a ripple near Jupiter" Pluto looked up from her screen.

It's not moving this way is it?" Uriel asked.

Raphael jumped up and moved to the calendar disk. "Oh crap, Uriel, find Michael and tell him asteroids are headed this way." Uriel nodded and disappeared. Raphael turned to Pluto. "Setsuna, go to Rei's house. The girls should all be there. There will be a woman who looks manlier than Haruka. Tell her what's happening. She's my sister, Gabriel." Pluto vanished. "I'll man the gates." Raphael sat back down at his station and started hurriedly typing.

Ryoga's eyes widened at Ranma rushed him. He kicked out, trying to maintain his umbrella. Ranma narrowly dodged his kick and slammed him hard in the stomach. Ryoga tried to punch her in the face but his fist only glanced off the side of her forehead. Both tired warriors stood there for a minute glaring at each other.

Just as their about to move once more the earth shakes throwing them both backward. Ranma looked up into the sky as her storm was shredded by a massive surge of ki. Cracks began forming in the clear blue sky revealing starscapes and tunnels of flesh and teeth. One tear started spewing out birds, another a fine purple mist. Ranma began noticing bird like things fly up from the ground, and heard an odd singing.

Up in the sky one tear caught her eye, it was warm and dark. It was a place of family. Where people lived forever, and fought and died, together. One would never be alone it said. It called to her. No judgment, Reached out. Ranma felt her storm manifest itself and rise upward towards the tear. She longed to go with it. Suddenly everything went dark. Ranma could feel wind pulling at her clothes and hair. Exhausted by the days fight. Ranma blanked out.

In a dark world, Ranma fell from the sky. With a tremendous splash she awoke. and desperately tried to kick to the surface. A small part of her head laughed at her, and she remembered her power over water. with a memory and a thought Ranma rose to the surface. Standing on the surface of the water, Ranma could see a moonlight glinting off the black water. She raised her head to the stars. A good chunk of the night sky was blotted out by a massive eclipsed sun. Unlike Earth's, it's fiery ring was blue instead of yellow.

Ranma stared for a moment. She whispered "Where the..."

"..HELL AM I NOW?" Ryoga roared to the twin suns of a rocky volcanic world. Rocks sprouted legs and begin to run away at his outburst. As he stared out over the cliffs and lava flows a screaming dragon flew over head. Ryoga did the only thing he knew how to do. He started walking.

To be continued... In a new world :D

Here are the names of the ten Archons and their colors. They are artificial planeswalkers created by god as another of his experiments. We'll meet more when Ranma comes back to take on Crystal Tokyo, but for now I wanted to stick to the four "cannon" archangels. Gabriel never actually showed up either though. She was off gathering the Senshi in one place incase something happend. Something like the trojan asteroids being displaced due to a time rift.

Michael (White, Red)

Gabriel (White, Blue)

Raphael (Blue Green)

Uriel (Black, Red)

Samael (Blue Black)

Azrael (Black Green)

Jophiel (Green Red)

Hanael (Blue Red)

Ariel (White Green)

Remiel (White Black)


	4. Noirrie: Dark of Night

Chapter 4: Noirrie: Dark of Night.

Theme: "Lost and Damned" by Kamelot.

AN: answering a few questions that came up in reviews.

Nantukoprime: Awsome name. I based the Archons largely off of Ravnica's guilds. There's an Archon for every two color combination. That's why they're Archons, from the Gnostic faiths. There are four, or three Archangels, and seven Seraphim. But there are 10 Archons! I actually had to use google to look up some kabbalistic angel names to gank to fill the roster.

Michael's White Red because he's heaven's Commander in Chief. Check out the Boros guild in Ravnica. Uriel's often listed as the angel of retribution and penance, which brings to my mind hell, so he gets to be Black Red (it's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it, and I really wanted it to be one of the big four.) One of his domains is also love, which is also Red.

Time Spiral. All you really need to know about Time Spiral (for this fic) is: Before time spiral, Planeswalkers were fourth dimentional gods capible of whiping out whole worlds with a thought.

After Time Spiral They're powerful mages with the ability to walk between worlds. That's it. No godlike abilities out of the box, no rapid walking in the blink of an eye, and they now suffer from hunger, disease, and sleep. They're mortal now. Come to think of it, I would never have written a story like this if Wizards hadn't nerfed the Planeswalkers. They're just better characters this way, IMHO.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm a Johnny/spike.

Dumbledork: Tofu had bigger problems to deal with, and Uriel flat out doesn't care. Tofu did buff Ranma before the battle, or he'd have probably died.

"Eating and leaving without paying is a crime my good sir." Enreste Sirgaines, Servant Chief of the house Cargenia, regarded his empty hook with disdain. "To enjoy such hospitality and take off like a mere vagrant, without so much as a tip." Sirgaines spoke as he drove his hand into the soil. "It wounds me, to know that my services were deemed unworthy of reparation." His hand came back up holding a squirming earthworm, which he proceeded to impale on the hook. "In fact, all I ask, is that you entertain me with you presence, for dinner on this wonderful evening."

Sirgaines finished baiting the hook and cast his line out into the water. Despite his duties to his lord, and the army of servants at his command, as well as comely appearance if he said so himself, he was a simple man at heart. Such base activities as fishing served both to relax and to remind him of his simple origins. Hopefully tonights labor, if it could be called that, would also bear fruit in a delicious dinner.

He was busy lowering himself into a cushy velvet lined armchair when he heard a crack of thunder up above the lake. squinting in the darkness He could barely make out a black shadow falling through the eclipse. Sirgaines dove for his bag, which contained his seeing glasses. Before he could point them at the eclipse, he heard a great splash from out in the lake. "What might that be hmmm?" Sirgaines breathed as he pointed his glasses to the water. He was shocked to see a beautiful girl rise to stand on the surface of the lake. Though the magic of the lens Sirgaines could make out her exquisite curves beneath her soaked red garment.

As he gaped through the lenses, she started walking to shore. Sirgaines reached into his coat and pulled out a small figurine. He whispered something to it and threw it into the night. It chittered and cackled as it flew on. He then hurried to meet this red goddess from the sky.

"Where the hell am I now? Ranma asked in a hushed voice. She stood atop the surface of a lake staring at an awesome sight. A humongous eclipsed sun, blue instead of the gold she was used to, took up a good sized chunk of the sky.

She felt a something tickle at her elbow and snatched it. Bringing it up to her face she found it to be her own hair, blacker than the night around it. She franticly reached behind her neck to find her pigtail unraveled, her Dragon's Whisker gone. It must have gotten cut off when she was fighting Ryoga. One more thing she'd have to kick his ass for next time she saw him. Ranma released the strand of hair and looked down. She was standing on water. Ripples spread outward from her bare feet and danced between them. This was so cool.

Ranma carefully tried to take a step on the water. While she didn't fall in, she discovered that her healing body hadn't taken kindly to fighting Ryoga. With each movement her muscles screamed in pain and her stomach threatened to reject it's contents again. Even her bones hurt.

Ranma looked at the palm of her hand. The scars were there, white lines against a flesh colored background. "How long until I'm recovered?" She asked herself. "Is this it? Will I be weak for the rest of my life?"

Far out in the distance Ranma could see faint light from the eclipse glinting off trees. Trees meant land, at least on her world. Ranma grit her teeth and trudged ahead to the shoreline. Ranma wanted nothing more than to collapse on the grass and have a nice nap, followed by some food of course. She kept that thought in her mind as she made the long trip to shore.

Finally after what felt like hours, though the eclipsed sun above hadn't moved within that time, Ranma was within spitting distance of land. She just had to keep walking. Looking down at her feet, Ranma noticed small dots of light swimming under the surface of the water. Little glowing fish darted and played amongst glowing algae. As Ranma watched the fish she started sinking into the water, inch by inch.

"No no no no no no no no, shit!"

"SPLASH"

Sirgaines leaned against a tree gasping for breath. He had not cause to move in this manner for quite a while. Still, it seemed he had arrived too late. The crimson maiden was nowhere to be seen. He could not have veered off course as he had one eye on her the whole time. It was as if she has simply dropped back into the lake.

He began cursing his ill luck as he made one last pass with his glasses. He would loose favor, that much was certain, not only for loosing such a fine specimen of femininity but also for wasting his master's time. No doubt the carriage was already on it's way. To have it return empty after so much ado.

Ranma was underwater again. This time, instead of an endless darkness, she saw a riot of light and color. flickering fish darted amongst glowing algae. Ranma was tired, but the bank was only a short distance away. No way was Saotome Ranma going to drown in another world, after all that's happened. With a kick she sped her way to shore.

Sirgaines sighed. So much for a small trip for his health. This would damage his reputation in the court. Years of work had been lost at this gamble. To think that he could have presented his lord with a bride worthy of his grandeur. Such a waste.

Sirgaines turned from the lake began to walk back to his chair. That is, until he heard a splash followed by a sputtering cough from the edge of the water. There was the girl, gripping the bank with the tips of her fingers. Sirgaines raced back and grabbed her hand before she could once again slip from his grasp. With her hand in his Sirgaines finally got a good look at the girl he had bet his life's work on.

Blue eyes and an exotic face stared back though a mass of raven black hair. "Help me, please..." she whispered before falling unconscious.

Sirgaines pulled her up and clutched her to his chest. "It's alright cherrie. Everything will be fine now."

Ranma lay sleeping in a black satin bed. An I.V. dripped fluids into her arm from a bag hanging overhead. Ranma was curled up in a ball, her black hair sprawled out around her head. She was clad in a plain black nightgown of some warm fuzzy material. Full sleeves covered her arms, but the right sleeve was rolled up to the elbow to allow the I.V. into her skin.. Cameras above pan back and forth, stoically keeping watch on the small girl below.

Virvielle Metraci's heals tapped a steady beat against the cold marble floor as she made her rounds. After nearly eighty two years working in this ward, her patterns could be timed with a stopwatch. It was exactly 27:624, just after midheight, The eclipse being now halfway to it's peak in the sky. Her next patient was "Red," Sirgaines' mystery girl. He had brought her back from his holiday at lake Cherdelle in Lord Cargenia's personal carriage, the one used to transport brides.

When the carriage arrived, it was carrying a tiny young girl wearing clothes obviously sized for a man. Sirgaines brushed aside any questions as he carried her into the castle where a stretcher waited. This had of course caused quite a stir, but Virvielle wasn't the type to bother with gossip, far more intersting was the girls diagnosis.

Mana burn. The dreaded nightmare of wizard and god alike. This girl had not only experienced the fire, she had survived. According to reports, her ley lines had been severely damaged, but had been repaired, probably by a powerful Green wizard, if the cromoanalasis could be trusted. Her own mana seemed to run in the manner of Blue and Red, but there was a powerful Green contamination to her blood, as well as trace amounts of other colors as was common to humans. There was also the scars. Her body was marked with thin white scars running along her ley lines, and spiraling above major organs. Recovering from such a condition, it was no wonder she had passed out in Sirgaines arms on the way to meet the Lord, as he claimed.

"Room 2386 Patient 'Red'" Virvielle paused a moment before opening the door. She was a few seconds early. Opening the door, she felt the room with her mind. Aside from the girl the room was sterile. Virvielle tried to peer into her sleeping mind.

Suddenly she was enveloped by darkness, a horrible fear inducing claustrophobic darkness. Screams and the yowling of cats could be heard all around her as thousands of cuts opening across her skin. Suddenly a face appeared before her, Blue cat eyes stared hatefully at her as the face spoke to her, the words reverberating off the walls of her skull.

"Get, OUT!"

Virvielle was thrown back into reality. She dropped her folders and stumbled back two steps, hand over her unbeating heart. In the bed, the girl was glaring at her, propped on her hands, half curled into a ball, very much like a cat that had just been awoken. Her intense blue eyes stared for a bit between strands of black hair, then dulled to a slightly grayer color.

"Where," the girl started, interrupting herself with a wide yawn. Finished she looked again at Virvielle and continued, "Ah, hi there. Where am I?" She stretched, and promptly winced, apparently still very sore.

"Your in Castle Cargenia, Observation ward 3. You passed out on the way here." Virvielle paused as before she could call her "Red," "Excuse me dear, might you have a name?"

The girl was fiddling with her I.V. port. Without looking up she said. "Ranma, Saotome Ranma, at your service." The girl looked up and mock saluted, holding her face in a scowl before breaking into a grin. Her gaze then wandered upwards, where the cameras were whirring back and forth. "Uh, am I in trouble for something?"

Ranma looked up at the cameras. Great, her first day, or night, in a new world and she's already broken some stupid rule. The last thing she remembered was was walking atop some water, oh and glowing fish too, that was probably a dream though. She certainly didn't remember stealing anything. Ranma unclipped the the device on her arm and pulled the needle out.

Before the pale lady could respond. Ranma stood up and flipped off the bed. Landing gracefully on her feet, she began a quick martial arts form to loosen up her aching muscles. She didn't know the name of it, It was some Chinese art she had seen practiced while traveling to Jusenkyo with her father. Lots of windmilling arms and swaying steps, reminiscent of the taijutsu techniques Ucchan's father taught her, then fully a he, when he was six. Good for loosening up, though the dress she was wearing would hinder any of the really good leg stretches. Best to keep it short, then. Finishing the form, she bowed to the lady out of habit.

Virvielle was shocked. The girl, Ranma, had surprised her by jumping, no, flipping and landing on her feet. As soon as she touched down, the pretty little girl started dancing. Her arms gracefully pinwheeled outward as she pirouetted in place and started stepping in the opposite direction, her arms winding in slow arcs as she moved. She turned to the right and ducked, showing a slight tremor in her legs. Bending forward with her hands raised behind her back, her fatigue became more pronouced. Ranma then raised to her feet, stepping again, with her hand raised before her, palm out.

Two more steps followed this, hands moving the entire time. Ranma then began to move backwards, swinging and swaying her arms behind her as she moved. Finally she spun in place once more and bowed to Virvielle.

Virvielle couldn't help herself. She clapped softly and said "Bravo dear." Ranma grinned and held her hands behind the base of her neck. "Where did you learn to dance like that?"

"Dance?" Ranma was confused to say the least, though she did have a sinking suspicion of where this was headed. "That was a martial arts form I saw once. In China."

That made sense to Virvielle, it took time to properly train ballerinas, and with the Garou running amok it made perfect sense to devise a way for a beautiful girl such as Ranma to defend herself from attack. Virvielle had never heard of a land called China, but still, the results of dance schools were impressive. "Martial arts, so it's a war-dance then? Either way, it was very beautiful."

Yea, right on the money, "I'm a girl so I can't be practicing to fight or anything. Ooooh I must be dancing, cause I'm a girl!" Ranma thought as she sat down on the bed, her grin replaced by a scowl. Oh how she hated the curse. If she were a boy right now, she wouldn't be talked down to by some nurse.

"Oh dear, I'm sure you can defend yourself just fine with your war dance, there's no need to sulk." Virvielle sat down next to the girl and lifted her chin. She opened her mouth to say words of encouragement, but was stopped cold as she looked at the little girl's face, a doll's face, perfect and unspoiled. Virvielle gaped for a moment, "What happened to your scars?"

"I hid them. I'm enough of a freak without them." She tore her head away from Virvielle's grasp, and stepped away from the bed. "And I ain't marrying no guy!" Ranma began walking around the room, searching through cupboards and cabinets. most were empty, a few held items normally seen in Japanese hospitals, tongue depressors and cotton balls and such. Ranma opened the closet by the opposite side of the bed and turned to Virvielle. "Where are my clothes? I can't change back in this."

"Change back? Whatever do you mean?" Was she a Garou? No, a simple blood test would have been able to determine that.

Ranma hated this, as much as it sucked being thought of as a weak little girl, it was actually better than being treated like a perverted cross dresser, or a dual gendered freak. "Oh who am I kidding, I'm in a freaking hospital. She'll find out eventually." Ranma thought.

"I need some hot water." Ranma said, looking very embarrassed. "Please."

"Alright dear, but I have a few more people to check on." Virvielle pulled a small device out of her jacket and held it before her face. "I really have to go. Someone will be here in a moment to take care of you." She stood up and walked to the door, picking up her fallen paperwork. As she opened the door she turned around and said, "I'll come see you on my break ok?"

Ranma was left alone. Alone, awake, and bored, she did what she aways did. She practiced. The room was rather small, especially with the bed in the middle, so she couldn't go wild or anything, not that she felt like it after her fight with Ryoga. Ranma began a basic kempo form, picking on that was linear in nature. She stepped and punched and blocked till she reached the door, then began stepping backwards. As she was about to turn around and backsteped towards the door, she saw the latch move.

Four young girls peered in through the half opened door. One blond, one brunette, one with black hair, and a redhead. Which proved convenient when they walked in, as they were all wearing the same black and white frilly dress, kinda like a French maid's. One of them, the redhead, was carrying slippers. None of them were carrying any glasses of water, warm or cold.

"Hiya!" The Brown haired one said as she waved. Her hair was done in a bob not that dissimilar from Nabiki's, though she her self seem energetic and cheerful. "So you're the new girl. Wow, you're pretty." She gestured to herself, " I'm Jean, this is Amelia" She pointed to the girl with braided blond hair. "That's Terra," The black haired girl with the white bow waved. "And the one who never talks is Cathrine."

The redhead with the slippers blushed and glared at Jean. She then walked forward and presented the shoes to Ranma, all without even moving her lips. Ranma took the slippers, put them down and stepped into them, they provided much better traction than the socks she was wearing when she woke up. They also fit her smaller female feet, which was nice. Ranma tested them out by spinning and lashing out with her foot. The kick had enough force behind it to knock over Ryoga. Too bad those stupid girls would probably see it as a dance move.

"Wow, was that the war dance? Ms. Matraci mentioned it in her report." Jean gushed. Ranma thought she needed to lay off the sugar.

"Report? Didn't she leave about, two minutes ago?" Ranma asked. Pretty fucking fast report.

"Haha, no, vampires can talk with their minds, they even have these devices that can allow them to talk with each other or us humans when they're too far away. That's how Matraci summoned us." Jean babbled on.

Something clicked in Ranma's head, "Wait, 'vampire'? That lady sucks blood?" She had been stuck in a room with a actual vampire?

The black haired one stepped forward. "The Cargenia clan discourages harming others. They've developed blood-founts, living fountains which produce food for the vampires. There's no need to fear being around them. Matraci is quite fond of you I think.

"The One with the blond braid stepped forward. It's ok Saotome. The castle is a wonderful place, and the vampires are all kind and caring." She reached behind Ranma and examined her hair. "Your hair's been cut very poorly." she said with a frown.

"Ah, I was kinda in a fight. I lost the end of my pig tail just before I got here." Ranma replied.

"Were they Garou? blond girl gasped, dropping Ranma's hair.

"You fought them with the dance?" Jean asked

"What happened to the rest of your troupe?" The black haired girl asked.

The red head just looked worried.

Ranma blinked. "Don't really know what a Garou is," she answered Amelia. "It's not a dance, everyone else is just clumsy." she said to Jean. "What's a troupe?" Ranma asked Terra.

Terra replied, still standing ramrod straight. "A Troupe is a traveling group of dancers or other entertainers."

"Oh, well I came here alone, but my master will probably show up and come get me as soon as he figures out I'm lost." Ranma said. Tofu probably wouldn't notice her missing for a couple of days. He said he was doing something important. Then again, he probably had his hands full with those cracks in the sky.

The redhead reached over and poked Terra in the arm. Terra shrugged and asked Ranma,"I think Cathrine wants to know who your master is, she wants to be a dancer." Catherine glared at Terra and then looked at Ranma, awaiting an answer.

"His name is Ono Tofu. And I'm not a dancer, kay?". Ranma let her scars show, "My old man taught me the Saotome family fighting style, those "dances" are just collections of techniques. A few weeks ago, I think, I had a bad accident. Since then Tofu's been teaching me magic."

Ranma turned her back to the girls and walked to the window. The courtyard below was illuminated. she could see soldiers armed with strange looking guns. "Then I fought Ryoga. I still don't understand, we're supposed to be friends. I mean, we always fight, but we're sparing right? Yea we were pissed at each other, but... I think he was actually trying to kill me this time." Ranma examined the ends of her hair. "Was he going for my neck? Does he really hate me that much?"

"Saotome?" Ranma didn't know which girl spoke.

She turned from the window. The girls could see that her eyes held back tears. "My name's Ranma, Where I come from family names come first." Her scars faded and she winked. "Now where's the bathroom?"

Ranma stood on a small platform as the four serving girls worked their magic. Amelia behind her had chopped Ranma's hair off at the neckline only to run her hands down her scalp. Ranma could feel the tickle of Green ki as her hair slid down her neck. Terra was busy measuring Ranma with an odd set of rulers calipers and a string. She called out numbers to Cathrine who wrote in a large dusty tome. Jean was passing what looked like a magnifying glass over her skin.

Ranma's head was yanked back as Amelia started, doing something. "Hey, what the hell?" Ranma called out.

Her hair was thrown over her shoulder, neatly braided, but in a different style than her usual. This complicated braid looked almost like rope. "There. That braid won't come undone even without a tie and it will prevent the hair from breaking no matter what you do to it. Well, as long as no jilted lovers cut it off."

"Amelia!" Jean snapped, "Does it always have to be a braid?" Jean had her hands on her hips and was leaning forward with a stern look on her face.

"Ranma told us she wears it up." Amelia snarled at Jean. "Besides, it protects the hair. You know, she actually does do something besides sit around eating ice cream." Amelia took the braid back and pulled at its end. It exploded sending Ranma's hair cascading down to her thighs. "During a ball she can wear it down, when she's dancing or fighting she can wear it in the braid. I can even teach her the spells to do it herself."

Jean huffed. Amelia turned and re braided Ranma's hair. Terra had finished measuring Ranma and had disappeared with Catherine into a side room.

"I still think.." Jean began.

"No one tells you how to do makeup Jean." Terra cut in as she and Cathrine returned to the room. Terra was carrying a large black bundle and Cathrine happily held onto a red one.

"Cathrine!" Jean started.

Terra cut her off, "When Ranma came to the castle she was wearing a red shirt. She's already known as the Red Beauty." Ranma bristled a little at that. "Trust us Jean. We know what we're doing." Cathrine nodded cutely from behind the dark haired girl.

After much kicking cussing and arguing, Ranma was dressed, she would have called it beaten into submission. Ranma stood in the mirror, her simple black night dress was gone. In it's place was a form fitting silken black dress with slits on either side. Over her shoulders was slung a scarlet cloak.

Jean was still arguing with the other girls about Ranma's hair. "Still how would we know if we didn't see how it looked?"

The other four girls, Ranma included, sighed. Ranma spoke up then, "do you think she'll shut up about it if we just humor her for a bit?" Jean beamed and clapped her hands together. Terra put her hand on her head and moaned. Amelia looked at Ranma and muttered "weakling." Cathrine shrugged and started humming.

"So how's this?" Jean asked the other girls as she stepped away. Ranma's hair was cut into a bob similar to Jean's. The three other serving girls started laughing. "What's so funny?" Jean demanded.

Amelia managed to gasp out the words "pot" and "kettle" before falling on to her butt, gasping for air.

"No way am I looking like Nabiki!" Ranma yelled. Ranma shook her head and her hair started growing. Amelia gasped in surprise as her mistress's hair grew to the middle of her back. Ranma then took the hood of her cloak and threw it up over her head. "I really don't see what all the fuss is about, I'm going to be wearing this hood anyway right?" Ranma's long straight hair streamed down her front like water.

Jean looked like she had been clubbed, but Amelia smirked and started playing with the ends of Ranma's hair causing it to curl. When it was done, black ringlets spilled out of Ranma's hood. Amelia turned Ranma so she could look in her eyes. The red hood and black hair framed her face nicely

"Wow, that is nicer than a braid." Amelia said as she stepped back and admired her handiwork. The wild curls fit what she knew of Ranma's personality nicely. The hood represented her shyness, while the brier like coif hinted at her fierce nature, both of which framed innocent blue gray eyes.

Jean of course wasted no time. "See, you should have listened to me." The others rolled their eyes as Terra took Ranma's hand and they all left for the hall.

"So," Ranma began as she looked around. "Where are we going now?" They were walking upon a balcony overlooking the massive "hall" of Cargenia castle. Above the eclipse peaked out through the clear dome scattering soft blue light throughout the hall. Jean lead the group blathering the entire way. Ranma walked between Amelia and Terra. Catherine was humming behind them.

Ranma's party turned a corner and headed down a stairwell. Walking out onto the lower level walkway, Ranma was surprised at the number of people walking silently too and fro, every last one of them dressed in black. Many of them caught her eye and smiled warmly, only to move on. Something seemed wrong about them. They were all pale, like the nurse she met earlier, and very precise in their movements. There seemed to be an sense of nothingness that was odd in a room bustling full of people, silent or not. Even Jean was quiet for once.

Amelia leaned over and whispered in Ranma's ear. "This is the immortal level, where the vampires mainly live. The hall sits in the middle of the castle, so if you want to get to another wing, you have to walk these platforms."

Terra whispered in Ranma's other ear. "The castle is divided into levels as well as wings. The level we were on is devoted to scientific study, as well as the most difficult of medical cases, in your case." Further down is the military level, after that the servant and visitor levels."

"I don't really like being on this level, I feel so out of place here." Amelia whispered.

Ranma noticed something as they walked Something very, alive was hiding behind a fountain further down the walkway. As they neared the fountain, Ranma tried to look around it. The fountain itself was taller than her, not that that was saying much. Blood seeped from the top of the fountain and flowed through groves to spill down into small basins below which too overflowed into drains in the floor. The blood itself was what was Ranma had sensed before.

"What the hell is that?" Ranma whispered, gesturing to the Blood-Fount.

"That's a Blood-Fount. It's where vampires drink." Jean whispered back.

"I thought you said they didn't kill people." Ranma said out loud, stopping.

The girls stopped and looked at her. Terra spoke "They don't. The Blood-Founts produce all the blood they could ever need. The Cargenia don't kill people and steal their blood, they just grow it, like grain."

Ranma was about to say something when a man came running down the corridor. "Excuse me! Emergency! Oh, come on, get out of the way!"

The vampires proved adept at not being in his way, They seemed to flow like water around him, all without saying a word, other than an annoyed glance. Ranma and her group weren't so lucky.

As the man, who was wearing black fatigues and a sliver colored harness, came barreling towards them, Jean dived out of the way, leaving the man to plow into Ranma and fall on top of her. He took a good look at her face and his eyes widened.

"You!" he gasped "You were the one who fell into the lake right? Come on let's go." He got up and offered Ranma his hand. Ranma got up on her own. The Man had scruffy brown hair that fell below his ears, and a five o clock shadow. Somehow he just didn't seem to belong with the Cargenia.

"Hey what's the big idea? Watch where you're going!" Ranma yelled at him. Terra and Amelia grabbed her shoulders and started trying to pull her back.

The stranger grabbed Ranma by the hand and started trying to drag her. Ranma finally grabbed his hand and yanked with her bound hand to the left. She was free, but falling backwards. Ranma stumbled backwards and fell into the fountain.

Ranma gasped as her clothes tightened and tore as she splashed into the warm blood. Her, or rather, his feet hurt worst of all. The man had turn tail and ran, most likely because of the 5 soldiers that had appeared and were chasing him yelling "Stop Garou!" Jean was yelling at the Garou as he ran away. Terra and Amelia were holding her back. Catherine was looking at Ranma like she had seen a ghost.

"R, Ran.." The three other girls turned as Catherine stammered. They caught sight of Ranma and gasped. A few of the vampires came forward as Ranma helped himself out of the pool.

"Ranma, what did he do to you?" Jean asked. One of the vampires took Ranma's head and turned it to the side.

Ranma sighed, "I guess you all know now. In China I got a curse. When I'm splashed with cold water I'm turned into a girl. Warm water reverses the effect."

The vampire started chuckling, and tickled Ranma's neck. The tightening pressure on Ranma's torso and feet lifted as he felt his chest expand into the fabric. "There all better dear. It's just an illusion."

"What?" Ranma looked down. Her breasts were back. "No! How?" Ranma concentrated for a bit, and manifested a ball or warm water in her hands. She burst it above her head. The warm water cascaded around his now male body, washing the blood away. Ranma felt the front of his chest retract and the dress tighten around his waist. "See, I'm a guy."

"You shouldn't be doing that, you haven't fully recovered yet from the mana burn." The vampire looked at ranma's neck again. Ranma felt himself change again.

"Hmmm I see no enchantment now, but when you were splashed one did appear." He looked Ranma in the eye. "You say this happens when you are splashed with warm water? You didn't just cast a glamor on yourself?"

"It's not a illusion. I change genders when doused with water." Ranma was getting annoyed.

"No dear, your male form is just an illusion created by your body in response to a trigger. The curse must be written into your DNA." The Vampire turned to the four serving girls. "Please help her get cleaned up." He turned back to Ranma. "Metraci mentioned something about mental tampering in her report. Something about a cat." Ranma shivered at the word. "It might have something to do with your gender disphoria, but, I have a prior engagement, and you have an appointment already. I will see you at a later date." He lifted Ranma's chin one last time, but this time he angled her head upwards to look in her eyes.

"You're not a freak, understand?" He then left melding back into the crowd.

Ranma looked at her hand. Her scars were still hidden from view under the blood. "I need a bath." The girls, still pale, nodded.

Ranma sat in a bath, a warm bath, as a girl. Jean had dispelled her male form as she and her friend bounded in carrying varius bath products. Apparently she couldn't even bathe herself.

Ranma was now alone, allowed to soak for a bit in the western style tub. She remembered something Uriel had said to her yesterday, "Neither of you are men. You're a girl, and he's a pig." Ranma remembered all the times she wore a skirt, or a woman's kimono, the time she was cheerleading, or the Tea ceremony school, hiding from her own mother, and now this. Finding out that her "temporary cure" as the Jusenkyo guide had put it, was nothing more than a trick like the one she used to hide her scars, was a low blow. Too learn that the male half she had fought so hard to regain before was nothing more than a lie, one that she could weave with her own magic now, made her feel cheated.

Ranma heard a knock on the door. "Ranma are you ok?" It was Jean.

Ramna sighed, "Yea, I'm coming." she said, and got out. Ranma grabbed the fluffy white towel that was left for her and, well, used it. She then tied the towel around her waist at walked out of the bathroom into her bedroom. The four girls had brought Ranma to the room after her incident with the blood-fount. It was much larger than the room in the hospital, and better furnished. A large window took up the entire wall of the room. Ranma could'nt see the eclipse in the sky anymore.

Ranma heard one of the other doors open and a giggle. Ranma looked at the sound. It turned out to be Jean, who was holding a comb and a brush.

"Oh Ranma, you really do think you're a boy don't you?" Jean asked.

Ranma looked at her funny. "What are you talking about?"

Jean giggled again as Amelia and Catherine came through the door. "You wear a towel like a boy." She walked up to Ranma and undid her towel.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted as Jean pulled the towel up over her breasts and re tied it.

"That's how girls wear it" She said happily. "Now lets get you dressed again. We're late."

On the bed was a duplicate of the clothes she had worn earlier, the black dress and the red hood. Amelia came up behind Ranma and fixed her hair. While the other two girls helped her get redressed.

"Ranma are you ok?" Amelia asked after she finished curling Ranma's hair for the second time that day.

Ranma was putting on articles passed to her without the fussing and arguing that she had done earlier, something had changed when she fell in the fountain. "Yea I'm fine." Ranma started wiggling into her dress.

"You don't look fine." Amelia said. Ranma made a face at her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jean asked.

"Why are you dressing me up like this?" Ranma asked. "What are we late for?" All the girls looked nervous. "I'm not marrying anybody."

"We're just taking you to see Lord Cargenia." Amelia said.

"Why?"

"Well you did apparently fall from the sky, and walked on water. You survived a horrible case of mana burn, and you have a curse that can't be disenchanted by normal means. You're a dancer, and a mage. Why wouldn't the lord want to meet you?" Terra deadpanned from the open door. She had come back with a plate of sandwiches.

"I'm not a damn dancer." Ranma muttered as she put on the cloak. She didn't see Terra roll her eyes.

Catherine jumped up and snatched a "sammach" off the plate. She giggled a bit before looking at Ranma, who was staring at the floor with a sad expression. Cathrine's smile drooped a little.

Ranma looked up when she felt a finger tap her on the shoulder. There was Cathrine, offering her the sandwich she stole from Terra. Ranma couldn't help herself but feel better seeing Cathrine's shy smile. "Thanks." she said, causing Cathrine to beam and make another run for the plate.

The perfect moment was soon spoiled by Jean. "Awwww, that's sooooooo cute!" Everyone else rolled their eyes as they dug in to their lunch.

"I still can't believe you can burp like that, you boy." Jean huffed as Ranma and company finally entered the proper suite. Lord Cargenia was nowhere to be seen, however. In fact, it was rather hard to see anything with the lights out, and smoke billowing from the floor. Ranma could see that it was a very large room, like dinning hall sized. Pillars stood before the left and right walls, and there was something on the far side, though it was too dark to see. Some menacing music would have rounded out the obvious "Hey stupid, you're going to get jumped by ninjas" theme nicely, Ranma thought.

"This the right place?" Ranma asked. Truth be told she actually hoped it was. New fiancée or not, ninja fights were always good for a laugh, and it would help her take her mind of her retarded curse.

Terra went back out and looked at the door plate. "It's the right room, maybe they expected us to be late after what happened, or they're occupied with the Garou that attacked you. I don't know why someone didn't inform us though."

A two candles were lit beside a stone bench on the opposite side of the room. Jean immediately called out, "Hellooooooo anyone there?" causing everyone to jump and glare.

"Jean, please don't do that again, ever." Amelia said.

"At least not till after we're ambushed by Garou." Ranma added. She still didn't know exactly what they were yet, some rebel faction by the look of the man that tried to grab her.

"Oh you can't be serious Ranma." Jean moaned. "There's no way that the Garou can break into the castle like that."

"Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they're not after me." Ranma gave the room a sweep with her eyes, then once again with her magical "ki sense." Black and Blue filled the middle of the room, defiantly ninjas.

"Stay by the door, if anything happens, run and get help." Ranma turned around and winked before fading from sight. Her disembodied voice said "Don't worry, I do this all the time."

Ranma was lost in another world. She was now throwing fireballs and summoning typhoons. She felt pretty confident that her dad's Umi Senken style was now fair game compared to some of the stuff she was likely to face in this room. Besides, it's aikido like techniques matched her weakened condition nicely. Especially against not so slick ninjas.

As Ranma walked further into the darkened room she began to hear whispers, faint ghostly chuckles, a small laugh behind her. Ranma whipped around to face the sounds, quieting one at a time, but not all. The stone bench was slowly getting closer.

A faint noise whipped past her face. Ranma ducked backwards and too the right. She quieted her mind to fade further into nothingness. Ranma felt movements too the left and behind. she jumped forward and rolled. Only to see a shadow before her lash out. ranma caught it's arm and twisted, the shadow went flying back into the darkness.

"Enough of this!" Ranma yelled. The shadows decided not to answer.

"Light, I need some light." Ranma thought. "That's it," Ranma drew power into and around her and began, to dance. With each spin, each lash of her hand, fire flew out into the darkness, Ranma began painting symbols onto the pillars flanking the room. Fire, Thought, Courage, Strength, Chaos, Horse, Heaven, Snow, Moon. With the room now lit by the eerie glow of a thousand Japanese symbols adorning the walls, floor and ceiling, the shadows were now visible for the men they were.

Sensing their advantage lost, they attacked. The first to reach Ranma was rewarded with a thrice broken arm, his momentum carrying him further into a roll on top of the injury. Another came up behind Ranma and Grabbed her arm. She stepped backwards and spun. His arm, still holding her's, bent itself to maintain a hold on the turning girl. The arm then reached it's limit and dislocated with a sickening pop. Ranma then kicked the inside of his knee, forcing him down, his back towards her. She popped the base of his skull with a quick kick. knocking him out.

Another assassin came flying forward form the edge of her vision. Ranma adjusted her stance again and caught the bottom of his calf, she then forced her elbow down onto his knee. The leg bent backwards and the force from Ranma's elbow caused the man to fall on his spine. He lay still.

Another three shadows squared stepped up at once. Ranma settled into a different stance and waved them closer.

"That's enough. Bravo!" A young man, no more than twenty, sat on the stone bench that just a moment ago was bare. He was clapping. a moment later the darkness was washed away, revealing a brilliantly lit dining hall. Ranma and the black clothed men were standing in the center, on a sort of chessboard dance floor, separated by the applauding audience by two flights of pillars, each covered in Japanese characters.

Five assassins stepped in from behind the pillars, bowed to Ranma and retrieved the fallen. Ranma then turned to the Young man, who rose from his bench and began walking towards Ranma.

"Lady Saotome," he said, "I am lord Vladimir Cargenia the sixth, and I welcome you to my castle." He swept his arm across the room drawing more applause. "I hope you will forgive the method of your introduction, but I had very much wanted to see you dance."

Lord Cargenia took her by the arm and lead her to the back of the room, to the head table. The four girls are already there.

"Oh Ranma!" Jean gushed, "That was so beautiful." The others nodded.

"It's hard to believe that was a fight." Amelia said.

Ranma was seated alongside The Lord Cargenia and food was brought out. Surprisingly while the majority of those seated drank from goblets, the young lord ate solid food.

"So he must still be human." Ranma thought.

The night droned on. Speeches. dances, A jester, A pair of hack magicians that Ranma found almost insulting. After a while Ranma found her head slipping off her hand, she barely righted her self before slamming into the table. She felt hands grip her shoulder.

"It seems the lady is still tired from her ordeals." a man vaguely familiar to Ranma, Sirgaines, the Servant Chief, called to the crowd. "She should retire to bed, but fear not, for she gains strength each passing night."

The last thing Ranma remembered from that night was the young lord of the vampires kissing her forehead and whispering "goodnight."

Ranma awoke in her new room. The Eclipse was now visible through the window. It seemed to be close to setting. Ranma slid to the edge of the massive bed an sat up. Rubbing her eyes, she mulled over her new situation.

Another damned fiancée, well actually a fiancé. Oh this was rich. Her first waking day on a new world and already the Saotome charm was going full tilt. And a guy too. She hated it when the fiancée was a fiancé. She could almost hear her mother say "That's not very manly."

Ranma briefly wondered how her mother would react to finding out that her supposed "male form" was nothing more than a glamor created by the curse. Would she make her commit ritual suicide, still?

It really didn't matter, she was probably galaxies away from Nerima right now. And besides, she wasn't honor bound to marry anyone here, the panda probably couldn't even dream up a world where the sun was hidden permanently behind the moon, or whatever hid it, let alone have been here to sell her to the highest bidder. Ranma got up off the bed and looked down to see what she was wearing, a black nightgown. Better than the party dress but still not the pants and shirt she preferred. Ranma grabbed her cloak, which had been hung beside the bed, and put it on. She then walked towards the window.

Amelia was walking with Catherine to Ranma's suite. It had been about 9 hours since she had passed out at the ball, and the two were checking to see if she was awake. Cathrine looked worried, but excited. She had taken an immediate liking to the girl. Going so much as to almost talk to her. Amelia thought that Ranma would be a good influence for the shy emotional Catherine.

Suddenly the alarms started going off. "Attention, class 5 explosive force detected at 249, Immortal Level, Residential Wing."

"Ranma!" Amelia shouted as she and Cathrine started running.

Terra slammed open the door to Ranma's bedroom and gasped. Ranma stood before the gaping hole of what had been her window. She was wearing her cloak and had the hood up. The wind whipped at it's hem revealing the nightgown she was still wearing.

"Ranma!" she called. Ranma looked over her shoulder. Terra could see tears sliding down her cheeks. What are you doing? Get away from there!"

"I told you," Ranma said, "I'm not marrying anyone, especially not some guy." Ranma took off running and jumped out the window.

"RAAAAAAAAAANMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ranma landed on cold concrete, leaving a two foot deep crater. She stood up and ran. She ran through fields and forests, Ran atop rivers and under bridges. Ran far and as fast as she could. Until finally, she fell sick, and passed out.

"Grampy! Grampy!" A small girl with pigtails bounced into a poor but well kept cottage. She began pulling on the pants of an old white haired man.

"Oh, what is it you little demon?" He said, picking up the girl and bushing her with his beard. The girl giggled and started squirming till he put her down.

"We found an angel Grampy!" "She's beautiful! Come see." She began pulling on "Grampy's" pants.

"Alright, alright. Let's see what mischief your brothers have gotten into tonight yes?

Ranma lay in a field of grain. Behind her a path had been cut into the wheat. She lay once again in a fetal position. with her red cloak wrapped around her, the hood had come down during her flight, revealing her face.

"Oh my, you did find an angel didn't you?" Grampy hugged his granddaughter, "Now go inside and wake your parents."

"Can I keep her Grampy?"

He chuckled, "No little one, but we will care for her, until her wings are mended."

To be continued.

Closing theme: "Little Red Riding Hood" by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.

AN part zwei: Bonus points for anyone who can guess the Colors of the four serving girls. Each girl is monocolored and each is a different Color. Of course, one Color got the shaft, but that just makes it more fun eh?

More bonus points for anyone who knows how a planet such as Noirrie can sit behind another in a perpetual eclipse. Without resorting to magic that is.

For those wondering what Ryoga is going through right now. Replace girl with pig and marrige with lunch and you get the gist. Next song, eh?

Oh and please review, it makes me happy, like candy for the demented.

Oh, just in case, you can find the songs on Youtube. Yea yea I know, but they do have warnings that say not to curl your hair in your sleep, or in the bath, so meh.


	5. Running With the Wolves

Chapter 5 Running with the wolves

Theme: Lost and Damned by Kamelot.

**A.N.: Hi I'm alive. Sorry it took so long. Anyways...**

**The four serving girl's colors **

**Jean, White: She's gabby, always positive, and she "knows" what's best for everyone, damn their own ideas.**

**Terra, Blue: Quiet, observant, and emotionally cold, logical and sarcastic.**

**Amelia, Green: Like Terra, she's smart, but instead of reading books she's active and athletic. She believes that practicality and beauty can coexist. She also uses a Green spell on Ranma's hair.**

**Cathrine, Red: My favorite, and most likely to play a big role in the next chapter. Cathrine is shy, energetic, bored, and completely loyal. Utterly ruled by her emotions, she can't be anything other than Red.**

**Also, Noirrie is under an eternal eclipse because it is within the L2 lagrangian point of it's planet. In other words yes it does orbit the sun directly behind it's host planet. Nantukoprime got close enough.**

**Ranma doesn't have wings...yet. Renard's just a poetic old man.**

**I got a couple of reviews demanding that I "fix Ranma's gender." I take the same stance that Miss Rumiko did. Ranma will be cured by the time I'm done with him, but I ain't jumping the shark until I'm done. I do however have a scene in my head for when it's time. **

**One of the reasons he's revealed to be a girl is that I didn't want him cured the first time he gets hit by Tranquility, a spell in Magic the Gathering that destroys all auras, boons or curses. Locked is better than cured IMO. When Ranma's cured the story looses, well a lot of what makes Ranma ½ what it is. And I was nice, I could have just had him "cured" to always be female, but I decided to make the lock more psychological than physical. Male type Ranma's still there, he's just not real. **

**And that's all I've got to bitch about this time. /A.N. **

Ranma found himself standing in darkness. He somehow knew that he was standing on water although he couldn't see anything. He tried a couple experimental stomps, no sound, but still some how he knew.

He also knew he was a guy, though he hadn't take the time to "find out," and he knew that his hair was back up in it's old pigtail.

"Okay," he thought aloud, "So what do I do now? Start walking?"

Almost as if on cue, a light shone down onto the water, maybe ten feet away. Yes, it really was water he was standing on after all. Ranma shrugged and started walking, only to stop short at the most horrible sound in the world.

"Rrrrrrrowwwlllllll." Radiant blue eyes peered out of the darkness. All thoughts of the strange light driven from his mind, Ranma began slowly backing up. All he could think of was to get away, far away.

As Ranma stumbled backward a shadow emerged into the spot of light. It was him, hunched over, hair falling before his eyes, frothy drool leaking from his open mouth as he hissed and yowled. The beastly doppleganger stalked forward on all four limbs, feet stepping in the hand prints before them.

In his haste Ranma tripped on, something, and fell to his butt. Finally there was a splash, though his backside didn't feel wet in the slightest. The cat-Ranma hunched down and wiggled his bottom, his mad face breaking into a wild Cheshire cat grin.

"We'll have none of that please." A voice echoed from the darkness. Vines began to whip up from the water, wrapping themselves around the cat thing. He yowled and hissed and tried to swipe at the vines, but his hands were already tied. He tried to jump, but his limbs were trapped to the ground, or rather, the water.

The cat thing was slowly dragged below the water. Before its head dipped below the surface it loosed an awful cry the dug into Ranma's very soul. He found he couldn't turn his head away from the horrible sight. The cat-Ranma's hateful eyes were locked into his. "I hate you," they seemed to say. "This is all your fault. I wish you were dead." His face finally went under freeing Ranma from their stare. Ranma curled up into a ball and started crying.

"Oh come now Ranma, don't let yourself beat you up like that." Tofu stepped under the spotlight. He looked the same as always, aside from his eyes. The left eye was blue, and the right was green. "Get up off the water, before you turn into a girl. I know how much you hate that."

Ranma got up and wiped his eyes. What was he thinking? Men don't cry. Weak little girls cry.

"That's better." Tofu said. "Now, first thing's first. Where are you?"

Ranma thought for a second. "I don't know, some other world I guess." A blue eclipse rose above the water. "It's always night, and I was in a vampire castle." Images of the past day began to play out on the water between Ranma and Tofu. "I managed to escape though. I'm not marrying some guy."

Ranma's head shot up. "Tofu, did you know?"

"Know what?" Tofu cocked his head to the side. "That the world was about to end? That almost half the people on the planet would suddenly find themselves on other worlds? That there are currently asteroids barreling towards Earth, or just that your male form is an illusion?"

Ranma didn't quite know how to respond to that. "The, the part about my curse." God he felt like an ass right now.

"Yes, the pools of Jusenkyo turned you into a girl. Upon application of warm water, your new body is designed to throw up a glamor reverting you to the image, both visual and tactile, of your original form. However, as you found out, this is a mere illusion. In fact, some day you'll find out more about that little, recurrent "kidney injury" that you got sometime in the jungles of China."

Ranma looked down, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why should I have? How would that have helped you in Nerima? How would that have helped you in dealing with your mother? Would you have preferred Shampoo and Ukyo to be enemies rather than fiancées?"

Ranma opened his mouth to yell back, but stopped. Instead he turned around and started walking away.

"As they say, ignorance is bliss." Tofu said to himself. "Ranma!" he yelled "The pools still exist!" Ranma kept walking. "The waters of the Nannichuan will cure the curse, they will make you a man again! There's no trick to that!"

Ranma walked far enough where he could no longer be seen by Tofu, but Tofu was sure he could hear him, after all, this was Ranma's mind. "One day you will return to Earth, and Jusenkyo will be waiting! When that time comes, think about what being female has taught you, then and only then, will the Nannichuan accept you and your curse be lifted!"

Lord Cargenia the Sixth stood in the former room of his newest potential bride. Scorch marks covered the ceiling and walls, and a large piece of steel had found itself embedded in the entrance. the wall length window, one of the largest in the castle, and magically protected against structural and magical damage, was nothing more than a smoking hole. Small fires were still consuming the ends of the warped steel framing. Workers had been called to snuff them out before they could spread further.

"My lord," A mage whose name Cargenia had never bothered to learn called in surprise. "The beams, the magic eating them is like nothing in the database, I don't know if we'll be able to put the fires out."

"Find a way, even if you have to rebuild half the wing." Cargenia then turned to two vampires seated at Ranma's desk. One was sitting backwards in an expensive wooden chair. The other, sat on the scorched desk itself. "You two, you know her scent I assume?"

One of the two vampires grinned "It was well worth the broken leg my lord."

Lord Cargenia shot him a disgusted look. "Find her and bring her back. I want her back in the castle before the eclipse rises again."

The other assassin lazily yawned and asked, "What if we run into Garou?"

"Kill them!" The lord exclaimed, "Not one of those beasts shall draw breath within a crow-hop of my beloved, do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal" the two vampiric assassins said in unison before leaping out the window.

"Make sure no harm befalls her," Cargenia whispered, seemingly to himself, "She has enough scars as it is."

Ranma awoke with a start. She was in a small cottage, western by the looks of it. The cottage was softly lit by small glowing cubes set into a fishnet sack. She was laying on a soft bed that smelled strongly of oak and dogs. Several sets of snores assaulted her hearing. Three from the left and a tiny one to her right. Ranma looked to the right to see a small girl twisted up in the sheets of a smaller bed. That left the three men on the left, one of which had a long snow white beard.

Ranma shook her head. "What is it with waking up in strange beds lately?" Ranma got up and looked for her slippers. She noticed as she was moving that her nightgown had been changed, as the vampiric one had felt almost like silk.

Moving stealthily as possible, which was a lot considering she was the son of a thief, Ranma searched the house for her misplaced slippers. She hoped the family that found hadn't decided to throw them out with her old nightgown. They were nice shoes after all.

Ranma spied a pile of footwear by the door. Among them were, thankfully, her slippers. Hanging among a rack of coats and hats was her red cloak. Ranma left the cloak for now, as it never seemed to be cold in this world. Besides, she wasn't leaving yet, she just wanted to go outside and practice.

Louis was having a rough time of it. Last night he'd barely escaped Cargenia castle with his neck, had to leave the girl he'd gone to save in the first place, and had somehow gotten in his mind that the best way to make the day not suck would be to pop a few ergots. Well, the ergot thing had been fun, keyword had, but as he's said the morning after every hit, never again. Louis threw the bag containing the last two blooms to the ground and groaned with his head in his hands.

He was awakened from his misery by a soft shout down by the square. Louis' eyes were still a bit iffy from the fungus, but his wolfish vision could make out someone moving from where he heard the shout. Having nothing better to do, Louis got up, which took a few tries, and moved closer to watch.

He quickly doubled back when he realized he'd left the baggie on the ground.

Nearing the square Louis had to pick his way through a rapidly growing crowd. Normally the men and women of the town would even have registered his presence, him being a rather skillfully and experienced Garou and all, however...the ergots.

"Hey! Watch were you're going wolf!" Louis had bumped into a not quite young man who wasn't quite in shape, probably a banker or something. Figures really, the ones who had a vampire's chance in the light knew better than to pick a fight with a werewolf.

"Hey, sorry man, I'm just a little trippy right now okay?" The banker, or whatever he did when he wasn't eating or sleeping, gave Louis a disgusted shake of his head and walked off. Feeling a little dizzy, Louis rested his back on a lamp post. In retrospect, maybe he fell into it a little hard, judging by the looks the locals were giving him.

Stupid mortals, what did they know? It's not like they saw a girl get kidnapped by a servant of the vampires or anything. Not like they managed to infiltrate Cargenia castle and make it to the Immortal Level, only to have to leave the girl behind as he was making a fast exit. She was hot too, Raven black hair, blue gray eyes, sweet body. That red hood was like wrapping paper too. The little curls poking from the hood, ah man.

Louis was interrupted from his fantasies by another shout. He looked up and saw a girl dancing by the well. Well, dance was a word for it, some of those moves looked like they'd hurt if they connected with someone. She looked to have curly black hair, was wearing a nightgown, and were her eyes blue?

"Holy crap! It's the girl from the castle!" Louis exclaimed and pointed, a few of the villagers turned to look at the stoned wolf just in time to see him loose his balance and slide off the post, to land on the ground.

"Oahhhhhhhhh"

Ranma was barely aware of the people who had started gathering around her as she practiced. To her, there was only the art. Ranma smiled as she flawlessly moved from one style to another, leaving the Umisenken aside for now, as it was supposed to be secret. The small crowd clapped as she spun and kicked high above her head. She held it in place until she felt her thigh tremble, and brought it down with a swiping block from her left hand, letting the momentum carry her around to the right into a series of straight elbows and punches.

After her last elbow she spun to face her rear and began blocking imaginary opponents in a circle around her, which flowed into yet another form from yet another style.

It was called "Anything Goes" for a reason.

Louis watched the girl through the legs of the crowd. Perhaps last night hadn't been such a waste after all. He rolled over and began to get up. "Just wanna talk to her." he thought. Louis gingerly stood up and tried to get his bearings. The world was spinning a bit from being on his back. As he began trying to gently push his way through the crowd people started shouting. Louis wondered what the fuss was about, he was just gonna talk to the girl. Besides, it wasn't like he could actually force her to do anything at the moment, being as strung out as he was. Finally he made it through the crowd, which was admittedly only about 3 to four people deep.

He saw the girl performing some complicated motions with her forearms while she bobbed back and forth. There was something about that dance that set his wolf instincts on edge. Putting the prickly feeling aside for the moment he took the last few steps necessary to reach out and touch the girl's shoulder.

Ranma felt someone grab her shoulder. Instinctively she grabbed at the offending arm both at the wrist and the armpit, with a twist of her body, and a bit of shoving with her bottom, and the pervert who was sneaking up on her won a one way ticket to the ground. The small crowd erupted into cheers. Ranma released his arm and took two steps back. She could have taken his arm, but something in the clumsy way he moved told her to hold back. Besides, she could use some fun after her last two days.

Louis grunted as his shoulder slammed into the ground. The timing of his roll had been a little off. Why had he gone back to pick up the bag? Louis could hear the cheers of the mortals. Angered a little, Louis quickly rolled to his fore and pushed with his arms. He rose from the ground into the air, growling, to land on his feet. The dumb villagers shut up after that. The girl however, stood there grinning, hands clasped behind her back. Louis, lost in his annoyance, roared and charged the smug girl.

Ranma was taken back abit by the sight before her. It wasn't the fact that a grown man was roaring like a monster. Ryoga and Akane did that often enough. It was the fact that her opponent was changing before her eyes. In the split second it took for the guy to close the short distance between them, the drunkard had begun growing sliver fur over his face and hands as his teeth sharpened into points. Ranma braced herself on her back leg as the beast man leaped. Ranma ducked down under his flying form and shoved her hands into his sternum and hip. Using her left hand as a brace she shoved his hip upwards flipping the werewolf head over heels again. He landed on his back with a solid thump. The wolf man jumped up to his feet again and howled.

"What the? You're a werewolf?" Ranma was prevented from speaking more when the wolf lunged again.

This time instead of blindly charging her. The wolf stalked forward on all fours. Ranma backed up a bit. Her martial arts were meant to fight against human opponents, not wolves. The wolf seemed to sense her hesitation, as he began loping and tried to leap on her once again.

Ranma barely managed to duck under the beast's right paw and use her hold on his forearms to twist him onto his back. The werewolf landed on painfully in the dirt again, while the villagers cheered.

Ranma laughed as the wolf slowly rose from the ground. She smirked as the wolf circled her growling. "Had enough puppy?" Ranma asked as she slid on her back foot into what she thought would be a cool and impressing stance. Unfortunately for her, a loose rock in the ground had other plans. Ranma tripped and landed on her butt. "Ouch." That soon turned into an "eek!" as the wolf slammed her down onto the ground, his paws on her shoulders.

Louis calmed down considerably as he gazed into the eyes of the girl he'd chased into the vampire fortress. The look of fear in her eyes calmed him down further. Louis could feel himself return to his human form as he leaned closer and opened his lips.

Ranma's eyes widened as she realized what was going on. Pinned to the ground, her options were limited, but if she could get her legs up, then maybe. "You know what? Fuck it. I'm a sorcerer now." Ranma muttered as she jammed her fists into the wolf man's armpits and thought of home.

"BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP"

The wolf was blown backwards into the air as Ranma's charged fists rammed into his torso. Electricity arched from the wolf back to Ranma's fists as the beast flew back. Ranma jumped up cursing and waved her hands around. "That freaking hurt!" she hissed. She moved to the trembling wolf and kicked him in the gut. "You MORON!" she yelled. Ranma gave the wolf a disgusted glare turned around and stomped off.

Louis lay shaking on the cold hard ground. His side hurt where the pretty girl had kicked him, surprisingly hard. "Not interested. Got it." He then passed out.

"Here dear try this on." Ranma was startled out of her thoughts by a garment of soft leather settling on over her head. Ranma grunted and pulled the thing off her head. It looked to be some sort of form fitting vest. She shrugged and obliged the old ladies. They were giving her free clothes after all, even if pants were off the table. Yes, she had already asked.

After defeating the werewolf, Ranma had been stomping back to the cottage she had woke up in. She had been quickly surrounded by well meaning peasants and villagers. Ranma was given food and water, was told that the town she was in was called Chesledale. The female elders of the village had then decided that Ranma was in need of clothing, which is why they had taken over the local shop.

Ranma and her new friends were currently making the local tailor work overtime. Ranma's current white linen dress was the fourth she had tried on. It had already been altered to fit her petite figure and the elders were now trying to complete it with accessories like the leather vest she was now putting on. The thing was held to her body with a complex series of leather laces. Ranma began lacing them as the women talked.

"Hmm it's a little long."

"A little? It hangs down to her thighs."

"Of course, she's so tiny. That's why we have the tailor here, anyway."

Ranma was up to the sixth cross before the tailor put his hand on her shoulder. "Let me measure this Cherrie, it'll have to be altered before you can wear it. This vest is supposed to stop at your waist." He touched a finger to the hem of the vest, almost halfway down Ranma's thigh.

Ranma rolled her eyes and began undoing the laces on the vest. The thing was looking like it would be a pain in the neck. "I wonder how much longer this is going to take. I'm getting tired of playing dress up with every group of people I meet." Ranma thought as she peeled the vest off. She handed the vest to the tailor who nodded and left to the back of the shop.

There was a jingle at the door, and a little girl burst in from the darkness outside. "Angel!" she yelled as she rushed to hug Ranma. A much larger man with a white bushy beard walked through the door behind her. Ranma recognized them from the cottage she had woke up in.

The little girl had wrapped herself around ranma's hips and had leaned her head into Ranma's waist. Ranma froze for a moment and looked down to see the girl's smiling face. She kinda reminded Ranma of a younger Cathrine, but with brown hair and the ability to speak.

"Um, hey." Ranma said, smooth as always. The little girl giggled and snuggled closer. Ranma looked up to the old man. "Hey, uh, thanks for, I dunno, finding me and letting me sleep at your place." Ranma's hand unconsciously rose to the back of her neck.

The old man smiled warmly. "It's no problem dear, though I fear we haven't been introduced yet. I am Renard," He pointed to the girl clinging to Ranma's hip, "and this little demon is Brielle."

"My name's Ranma. Nice to meetcha!" Ranma offered her hand for a western style hand shake.

Ranma sat on her borrowed bed with her eyes closed with her legs crossed before her. Her breathing was even and deep. The the other residents of the cottage had already fallen asleep. So no one bothered her while she tried to meditate.

Deep in Ranma's mind her thoughts swirled around and through her. Ranma thought of the nights events as she had been taught by her various teachers over the years, though she kept coming back to one person, Tofu. Ranma regretted treating him as she did in her dream, even if it wasn't real. She was still upset about not being told the nature of her curse, well, upset about the curse in general. Still, turning her back to him after he had saved her life and all was pretty shitty.

"Ranma" a voice whispered in the darkness.

"Huh?" Ranma started

"Find me in the forests Ranma, and don't worry, I should have told you sooner, about your curse."

"TOFU?" Ranma shouted out loud, causing Brielle to stir in her sleep.

Ranma and her patron family were seated around a small oaken table in the cottage. Brielle was dancing in her seat, trying to make a scene at the table, while Renard was laughing and clapping. The two boys hurriedly gulped their stew while avoiding Ranma's eyes. Ranma wondered if it had to do with the dress she was now wearing. Now that it was on, and laced up, Ranma wasn't sure that she liked it. It was tight under her ribs and restricted her movement, and it squeezed her boobs so much they had started to hurt.

Ranma looked up from another spoonful of stew to notice both boys staring at her, their eyes angled downward. Noticing that she had stopped eating, the two boys' eyes slowly traveled up to her face. They both jumped at her annoyed expression, asked to be excused and almost ran out the door.

Ranma hmphed.

Renard stopped playing with his granddaughter for a minute and said to Ranma, "They're just shy Ranma. I don't think it's a stretch to say that you're the most beautiful girl they've ever seen." Renard got up and walked to the wall and held a glowing stone to a painting showing the family, in addition to what Ranma guessed were Brielle and the boys' parents, and a beautiful girl with long brown hair. "These are their parents, and she," Renard pointed to the girl. "is their sister, Angela."

"What happened to them?" Ranma asked.

Renard sighed, "When Angela was sixteen, the vampires came for her. Vampires and werewolves can't have children of their own, so they increase their numbers by turning humans, like us. With men, the greatest warriors are usually the first to be taken, with women, it's the most beautiful. When the vampires came for Angela there were a group of Garou in town. We are far from the castle, in Garou territory. It's common for those beasts to barge in and gorge themselves on drugs, and terrify our women."

Renard sat back at the table and looked at Ranma, "The Garou challenged the Cargenia for "ownership" of my granddaughter. My daughter and her husband went to save her from the fray, but they were all caught when the vampire's carriage exploded." Renard was shaking now.

Ranma didn't know what to say. Her own experience paled in comparison. "I, I'm sorry." She got up and grabbed her cloak, "I think I need to go out for a bit and practice mar.. my dance. I'll be back."

Renard nodded, "be careful Ranma."

After a quick warm up that drew quite a crowd, but not the person she was looking for, Ranma stalked through the town searching for that damn wolf. After an hour of searching, which was hampered by each and every vendor trying to give her free samples of food, she finally found the scruffy man laying on his back on the edge of a simple stone fountain.

Louis was dozing off on a wonderful clear night. The eclipse was full and bright in the center of the sky, the smell of rosemary filled the air, as well as the scent of a young woman in heat. Louis jumps off the fountain to see a familiar red cloak stalking towards him. "Oh no, not her."

Ranma looked at the wolf with a hint of disgust. He was sober, wonderfully. Though he hadn't had a bath or changed cloths. The wolf had a half scared look on his face. "Hey, wolf." She began, "Do you happen to know if there's a sorcerer stranded in the forest somewhere? His name is Tofu."

Louis scratched at his stubbly chin thinking, "Tofu eh? Well that's better than "Ol What's-his-name isn't it?" He then said aloud. "First off, my name is Louis, not wolf. And second, yes all Garou know of a wizard who lives near Lake Champlain. We called him "Ol What's-his-name."

Ranma thought for a minute, Tofu did say he was in the forests. "Ok, lead the way wolf, but don't try anything funny." Ranma said as her eyes sparked.

"So this is where Tofu is?" Ranma wondered aloud. "I was expecting a prison or something." Ranma found herself in front of a squat hovel built between under and around two gigantic trees. It looked like it had been there since the trees were young.

"Well, this hovel's been here as long as I've been alive, When I was a kid my parents used to tell me stories about the place. Said that the wizard here didn't like being cold so he seduced Grandmother Winter and made her his wife. He then made her wear an amulet that robbed her of her powers so it's always warm." Louis turned at Ranma and grinned, "I used to come here all the time, before I was turned. We Garou have a treaty with the old man, we don't bother him, he doesn't bother us."

Ranma stepped up to the door, "Well, lets do this."

The door handle slipped backwards out of her grasp as the door opened with a creak. An old man in a dirty brown cloak stood in the door. "May I help you ma'am?"

Ranma stared. Defiantly NOT Tofu. "I'm sorry, I'm looking for my master. I thought he might be here."

The old man looked at her for a second. "You look tired girl, why don't you come in." He paused for a minute and smiled. "In fact, I think I know where to find your Doctor Tofu."

Louis started making "hell no" gestures from the top of the hovel.

"Don't worry wolf, I won't harm her, she's a youngling of my race after all." the old man called out.

Ranma asked "How did..."

The old man smiled at Ranma, "I see everything my dear. Now come in."

Ranma stepped into the door way and found herself in a rather spacious and surprisingly well kept room. shimmering blue curtains in the knot shaped windows filled the room with a shivering blue light. The walls were covered in clocks and book cases. most of the scenes in the faces of the clocks seemed to feature snow or ice. In the middle of the room were a small crystal table and two extremely cushy armchairs. Ranma heard the old man latch the door and turn about seven different locks as she took in the contents of the room.

A woman's voice sounded behind her, "You have no idea how much I hate wearing this ratty cloak."

Ranma whipped around. Before her stood a stunningly beautiful woman with silver hair and blue eyes, clad only in a slip of metallic blue fabric.

"You, you're Grandmother Winter!" Ranma yelled after she jumped back with a yelp. "But, aren't you supposed to be a prisoner or something?"

"That's one of the stories, yes." Winter said with a smile. "In another I was assaulted by the sun and left for dead. As I lay dieing I cursed his face, and he wears a mask to this day." Winter slinked past Ranma and sunk into one of the armchairs. "Have a seat dear, and have some tea." Winter slowly waved her hand above the table, where a Japanese style tea set sort of, un-melted into view. Winter poured some out for Ranma. "Come now Ranma, sit down. I know you are used to running and jumping and kicking things, but I prefer to sit while I drink my tea."

So Ranma sat. "Wait, how the hell do you know so much about me? Uh, Ma'am?" Ranma didn't really want to get smited by a weather goddess after all. Luckily, Winter didn't seem to mine Ranma's outburst.

She smiled and lowered her cup. "People like you and me, Planeswalkers, can see the world as if we were watching it from a different view." Ranma stared at her blankly. "Imagine a rat running through a maze. He sees only the walls of the maze, the floor, and the sky. However, the researchers running the experiment can look down and see his progress. They can, in a sense, look through walls."

Ranma interrupted, "So that's how you know Louis was signaling me right?"

Winter replied, "Yes dear. Now, in the same way that humans have a different view of the world than simple rats, we Planeswalkers can view the thoughts of humans. In three dimensions, the mind is closed, like a book. However if we add a dimension, say we look through a different window to get a better view, the mind bursts open, as if each page were were separate from each other and perfectly legible."

Ranma blinked, "That sounds, very weird."

Winter chuckled. "Actually dear, what's, as you put it, weird is that you don't seem to have this ability. Though you can travel between planes, and speak to someone no matter the language, minds remain closed to you. Yet your spark is fully flared, to the detriment of your health, as your memories tell me."

Ranma sighed, "Before, Tofu started teaching me, I had an accident."

Winter interrupted "I know all about that dear, but first we have more important matters, like finding your master." Ranma perked up. "Tofu is still on Earth. I do know why, but for some reason he is not able to follow you here. He was however, able to connect to you with the aetheral connection you share. With this same connection you might be able to draw him to you."

"So what's that got to do with the forests?" Ranma asked out of turn.

Winter held up her hand and said, "It's his Color. In order to open a portal through the aether to the being you wish to summon, your Color must, for a moment, match his."

"So, I just need to draw Green instead of Red!" Ranma jumped up and started pacing. "So if Red comes from mountains and Blue comes from the ocean. Green comes from the forest, right? I mean, it makes sense." Winter smiled as Ranma continued on. "But I've been all through out the jungles of China, shouldn't I be able to draw ki from those forests?"

Winter asked, "Do you have any lasting memories of them?"

"Uh, not really. On the way there I was racing my old man, and on the way back we were running from this crazy Chinese chick. All I really remember is that I couldn't stay male for two seconds before it rained."

Winter cooed, "Sooooo..."

"I'll explore the forests around the lake, I'll ask the wolves to take me to every landmark in the area. Then I'll summon Tofu!" Ranma yelled.

"Are you sure you can handle the Garou? Nothing drives them wild more than the scent of a young woman." Winter asked.

Ranma snorted, "I'm a guy, I'll never let one of them touch me." The light coming through the window lessened a bit."

Winter laughed, it sounded like bells and falling ice. "You may consider yourself male, but you're no more a man than I am, Stormdancer."

Rain was now pattering against the roof and windows. "Don't remind me." Ranma mumbled.

"Now, we should see how your friend is doing in this harsh weather. It's odd that there's a storm this time of..." Winter seemed to space out. "The wolf is in danger, hurry!"

Louis was bored, bored and fucking wet. Even in human form being wet was not the ideal way to spend the night. Especially sober, and double especially waiting on a hottie who would rather fry your ass than cuddle with you.

"Man this sucks, maybe she wouldn't mind if I just left. It's not like she actually cares about me." Louis grumbled as he adjusted the hood of his cloak.

Behind the sodden wolf, the rustling leaves parted to reveal a cold white grinning face, with gleaming sharp fangs. Below the face two fists parted the underbrush, holding a thin strand of wire between them.

Louis was too busy cursing the weather, the hovel, and the organ that that wouldn't allow him to abandon Ranma to notice the movement behind him. He didn't notice the movement around his ears either.

But he did see the flash of the wire.

Louis grabbed it, headless of the way it cut into his flesh, and reached behind him with newly clawed fingers. Clawed hands grasped a lifeless throat as his wolfish muscles roared to life and clenched. With a roar, Louis hurled the vampire ten feet into a solid oak, the vampire landing upside down with a sickening thwack. Louis' face elongated and grew fur as he stood up and howled, only to be peppered with daggers that stung like fire.

"Silver!" Louis thought as he franticly pulled the daggers out of his chest. As he pulled the last one, he saw a smirking vampire standing on a tree limb. Louis dropped to all fours and ran towards the tree.

Ranma threw up the hood of her cloak and ran to the door. As she began fiddling with the latches and bolts she heard a howl from outside the hut.

"Louis!" she cried out.

Winter gently nudged her out of the way, and began undoing the locks.

Ranma couldn't take it, "Why do you have so many damn locks?"

Winter unlatched the last lock. "I don't wish to become a wolf, or a vampire."

"But you're a Planeswalker, oh fuck it." Ranma burst through the door She saw Louis on his back being straddled by a black garbed figure with bone white hands, a gleaming knife held to Louis' furry neck.

"Roasting Chestnuts Reverse Dance!"

Time stopped. Ranma knocked immobile raindrops out of her way as she ran to save Louis. Ranma leaped over Louis' legs and grabbed the static vampire around the neck, pulling him off of the werewolf. She then began to dismantle him, joint by joint, bone by bone, a pop here, a thick crunch there. Ranma finished with the bastard's neck, and let the world grind back to life, while she rushed to Louis.

Louis blinked in surprise, one moment ago there was an ugly vampire trying to slit his throat with a silver knife, now Ranma knelt over him like an angel accepting the dead to heaven.

"Are you alright?" Ranma asked, looking concerned.

"I'd be better with a kiss." the wolf answered. Ranma pushed his head back into the mud.

Ranma stood up and tried to "see from a different angle." She was aware of something moving in the trees. Her ki senses saw that that someone was full of the same dark gloomy ki that the vampires were made of. Ranma briefly wondered how well this vampire could use the Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokudan. Ranma reached into the storm and with a wave of her hand, sent shards of ice, and bullets of sleet to knock the vampire off his perch.

The assassin heard a strange sound not unlike pouring sand. He suddenly was pelted by frozen rain. He followed the best course of action, and jumped to another branch.

Ranma cursed as the ninja jumped for a fourth time. She was getting better at directing the ice, but the damned ninja just seemed always one step ahead of her. She heard a creak directly in front of her and looked up to see the vampire with some kind of kunai in his hand. Ranma tried to dodge the attack but was unable to roll and landed hard on her side. "That damn vest!" she thought. Three kunai lazily spun towards her. the first two blades looked to miss over her legs, but the third was headed straight for her face. "So this is how it ends, eh?" She thought and closed her eyes.

Ranma heard a crackling and opened her eyes. The kunai, which looked more like a western dagger up close, hung frozen in mid air, literally frozen, as frost and icicles hung off it. Before Ranma could grab it, the blade flipped around and sped towards the ninja with a loud boom. In an instant, the vampire was disintegration from a hole in the center of his chest. He jumped forward with a yell and would have landed on Ranma if he hadn't fallen to ash. A straight silver sword bounced in her direction. Ranma caught it without thinking.

"Ranma, are you alright?" Winter called from the porch of her hut.

"Yea I'm fine... Stupid vest. I can't wear this." Ranma began fiddling with the laces. She managed to under the first four ties before the rest magically split down the center. Ranma tore it off and threw it. She then knelt on the ground, heaving.

Winter watched as the injured wolf hobbled over to comfort the heaving girl. It wasn't clear if Ranma was suffering from the effects of a near death experience or the self inflicted damage to her ley lines. With nothing better to do, Winter walked from the porch and picked up the discarded garment. It resembled a sort of leather bodice that laced up to the wearer's neck. It was odd that it fully concealed the breasts, but with the faint magic in the leather it might have been intended as some sort of feminine armor.

Winter spun the bodice upside down and looked at it's lower half, there was much more of an aura here. It looked as though it was designed to constrict like a corset. Winter touched her finger to the inside of the garment and flinched as it tightened. "That makes no sense," she thought "I'm jealous of her figure and I can alter my form at will. What use would a "martial artist" have for a corset anyway, besides getting herself killed?"

"Damnit Louis, I'm fine!" Ranma yelled as she once again knocked the wolf away. "Besides weren't you dieing just a second ago?" Ranma wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand. "I wish I had some hot water right now. I don't care if it's just an illusion, if it gets you off my back."

"I don't think it'll help." Winter's voice interrupted. "Werewolves can smell auras. Besides most human made illusions don't take scent into account. So you'll probably still smell like a viable woman." Winter held her hand out, "but, it might be interesting."

Ranma took Winter's arm and pulled herself up. "My, you're well built for such a small girl." Winter commented, seeing the swell of Ranma's uncontained breasts.

Ranma looked down and saw nothing besides the white ledge of her breasts. "They get in the way." She shrugged.

Winter chuckled. "Anyway I wanted to ask, what sadist put this on you?" Winter held up the vest/corset/bodice thingie.

Ranma answered, "Some old ladies at the village. They kept me in that shop for hours after I first met Louis." Louis cringed and rubbed his armpits at the mention of his name. "Why?"

Winter sighed, "Ranma this garment is too tight for your chest, it digs into your waist, you can't move in it." she paused then, "And you know that you can make clothing out of nothing with magic right?"

"No, I didn't. Tofu didn't teach me that, he was mainly teaching me how to channel ki without killing my self." Ranma replied, "I started learning how to use it in combat, cause I'm a martial artist, but the sky cracked not long after." She looked up, "And now I'm here, lost. When I got here my clothes were shredded." Ranma turned around and flung the sliver sword she was holding into the trunk of a tree. "I really need a bath." she said, and walked inside.

Winter turned to Louis. "Wolf, Ranma and I will need a guide around the lake. She especially wishes to explore the forested regions."

Louis nodded. "I know my way around, and I know people who've spent their whole lives out here."

"Great, meet us here in a week." Winter said, "You'll be reimbursed, not by Ranma of course, but some magical weaponry will do nicely I think." Winter said her goodbyes and walked back into her hut, locking all twenty latches and locks behind her.

Louis shrugged and wandered off. He'd think about it. "I wonder what Ranma told the old man to let him lend her his wife." He thought. A bound goddess could be useful against the Cargenia.

As he was leaving he noticed an icy stalagmite surrounded by a pile of ash. "Granny Winter scares me more than Ranma" he thought.

Winter didn't sneeze, her nose didn't even itch. In fact, she'd been watching the wolf since she had locked her door, and had heard everything he had thought. He would come back. He was a wolf, and a man at that. He wouldn't give up on Ranma, even though he knew he had no chance. Winter knew Ranma's every fantasy, and she knew that the wolf was a part of none. She smiled, and went to check on the girl.

She found Ranma curled against the wall, resting her head against her knees. Winter bent down and pulled back Ranma's hood. "I thought you were going to take a bath dear." She said.

Ranma mumbled, "Couldn't find the bath." Ranma then laid her head back down and began to snore.

Winter huffed. "Well, looks like it's bed first, then bath, and training." Winter made a gesture and watched as Ranma was lifted from the ground, moved away from the wall and gently set down on a newly created blue and purple bed. Winter walked over and put a hand to Ranma's forehead. It was burning up.

"We need to find your master soon." she whispered to the sleeping girl. "You're still dieing, and I don't know how he's been healing you."

**A.N. Ohhhhhh, not quite as long as the last two, but it's a good stopping point. Grandmother Winter is HOT. Well, very attractive. And she's going to be teaching Ranma for a week. Lucky guy, er girl. **

**One or two more chapters to go, then we can go planeswalking again. **

**Anyway next chapter: The harsh light of Day.**

**The eclipse is moving. As the sun peels back his mask, the world begins to burn. Ranma begins to feel the pull of other worlds under the hellish light, but she can't let the people of Noirrie die. She, along with Tofu and Winter, and the clans of the Garou, storm Castle Cargenia in an attempt to lead as many people as possible, humans, garou, man, woman, and child, to safety. but the vampires attempt to hold them at bay.**

**Thanks for reading.**


	6. What It Means to Be Lost

**A.N. And I'm dead. Chapter. Here. Enjoy. blaaaaaaargh. **

**This was supposed to be the first part of The Harsh light of day, but the wind up was way too long, so I added some Ryoga scenes and made it it's own chapter. I'm so ready to move to a different world...meh. One more chapter. **

**a few notes: the Garou will always see Ranma as "she" since they are more turned on by scent than by sight. Ranma's in PMS mode, and she's in constant pain at the beginning of the chapter.**

**It's always dark.**

**Adrien looks like the lead singer from Judas Priest, cept with round glasses. **

**Left eye blue, right eye green. (I'm tired of having to go back and look it up. >**

Planeswalker Chapter 6: What it means to be lost.

Theme: Not Falling by Mudvayne

Sunlight lazily filtered down from the leaf filled sky. It drifted and floated. spun in silent eddies, and flowed with the light breeze. Old, tired, and ready to meet it's end at the forest floor, the mote of sunlight prepared to settle to the dirt. It's rest however, was interrupted, as a speeding yellow and black figure barreled past, flinging the poor old light mote back into the air, it's well earned rest postponed.

Ryoga was, once again, running for his life, tearing through the tangled underbrush like the a wild boar. Nipping at his heals were four very odd creatures. They looked like small children with four arms, but continually called out threatening chants as they easily keep up with the lost boy.

The four, things, had seemed innocent enough. Ryoga had met them on one of his many travels. He had gotten lost again, and found himself in a tangled forest. Eventually he stumbled upon a old dining table in the wilderness. Weary from traveling, Ryoga sat down and rested his head on the table. He quickly fell asleep.

"So who's this strong boy who's come to dine with us?"

Ryoga woke with a start. Seated at the table with him were four small children all four had rosy cheeks and bright smiles.

"Hello" one said

"What's your name?" the next said

"You have fangs, shouldn't you have tusks instead?" another said.

"I think you're cute." the last one, a girl, said.

"Ah, hello." Ryoga said after a minute. "Ah! I'm sorry I didn't mean to intrude into your house." Ryoga was on the ground bowing in less than a second.

"What's he doing?" one of the children asked.

"I think he's hungry." the girl said. "Look he's trying to dig for roots. It looks silly when a boy does it."

"Hey are you hungry?" another of the children asked Ryoga. "I think you'll like what we have for breakfast." The child grinned and rubbed his four hands together.

"What, what are you having?" Ryoga asked, fearing the answer.

The girl child leaned against Ryoga and gazed into his eyes. "Why, pork of course." She grinned, allowing Ryoga to see her several rows of razor sharp shark like teeth. Ryoga screamed and bolted.

"RANMA!" he yelled, "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

Ranma felt a shiver down her spine as she she prepared to battle. Across the green and well lit field stood her opponent, Grandmother Winter. Winter had requested a spar with Ranma in her "dojo" underground to ascertain her skills.

Ranma ignored the dull ache in her limbs as she stood in her traditional opening stance. The essence of the Earth mentality was stability and strength without effort, and more importantly the appearance of effort. Let your enemy come to you, make him come into range, make him get by your defenses, make him work, for absolutely nothing.

Across the field Winter laughed. "She pretends like she's not ready, like she's not trying." Winter held up a gleaming silver orb. "She's never known want in her life, not in her lush world. Let's see how tough she is without mana."

Ranma watched as Winter tossed a silver ball into the air. The ball hung as if caught on a hook and began to spin. As it did, the air began to chill. Frost began forming on the grass and mist turned to clouds in the sky. Ranma felt like the very life was being drained out of her from the cold.

"What...the hell is this?" Ranma gasped.

The Winter Orb flared, and the cold intensified. Ranma felt herself fall to her knees. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. The aching in her bones had become a roar. Ranma felt herself on the verge of passing out before she saw Winter gesture, and the orb wink out of existence.

Ranma gasped as life returned to the world. Sensations and emotions she took for granted flooded into her being once more. The wind kissing her face and tugging at her hair, The light of the dojo's false sun on the back of her neck, the swaying of her unbound breasts as she gasped for air.

Ranma felt soft fingers caress her cheek, which quickly led to an even softer hug. "I'm sorry Ranma," Winter said. "The Winter Orb is a horrible artifact from long before even my time. It drains mana, the very life of the multiverse, from anything near it. Even people."

Ranma murmured wordlessly, overpowered by the sensation of snuggling into a warm female body.

"Ranma?" Winter chuckled, "Are you being perverted dear? You know, it's perfectly normal for someone your age to experience such feelings. You really shouldn't be afraid to show affection." Ranma started to squirm and kick. Winter released her and stepped back, reveling in the younger girl's confusion.

Ranma blinked a few times, wobbled, and fell on her butt. "what? I..." Ranma blushed. "What did you do to me?"

"The Winter Orb steals mana, without it, you can't feel sensations or emotions, you become a soul less shell. Your body was attempting to draw mana out of the land to compensate, mana which the orb had already stolen. When the Winter Orb was bounced, returned to it's own plane of existence, your connection to the land returned and your body took the mana it needed to survive. One side effect, is... ehm, shall we say, increased sensation and longing you felt a moment ago."

Ranma pouted. "That was cheating."

Winter bent over at the waist and smirked, "Yes it was, but what are you going to do about it?"

Ryoga panted as he stumbled through a hall of crystal mirrors. Giant columns of diamond and ruby and other assorted gems towered upward toward the very roof of the cavern. Small cracks and larger holes in the roof allowed beams of light to scatter through the gigantic crystals that populated the cave. He had finally lost the, things that had been chasing him, having fallen down one of the very sinkholes he was now looking up at.

"It really is beautiful." Ryoga mused as he gazed around the cavern. "I bet Akane would like to see it, Akari too."

"Ryoga." Akane's voice echoed from somewhere within the chamber.

"Akane? Where are you?" Ryoga looked in every direction before stopping in front of a ruby mirror. Inside it kneeled Akane. Her hands clasped together in prayer. "Akane?" Ryogra rushed to the mirror and placed his hands on it.

"I know I haven't said anything to you since you died, and I said some awful things that day." Akane began, obviously praying. "But I'm sorry." She was crying now. "I wish, I wish everyone could come back, Ranma, you, Shampoo, Yuka, everyone who died. Tofu says you're all in a better place, but... Heaven must be so crowded now."

Ryoga chuckled, "It's ok Akane, I'm not dead. I, I'm here for you" He leaned his head on the mirror.

Akane continued, oblivious that Ryoga had heard her prayer, "I bet you and Ranma are still fighting up there. I, I wish I could watch. You both are always so happy when you're creaming each other." Akane sniffed and then continued, "I guess that's it, I promise I'll talk to you more often." She then faded from view.

"Akane!" Ryoga yelled, "AKANE!" He started to sob against the polished glass. "I'll come back Akane, I promise. Even If I have to walk through Hell."

"Ok it's red now, you happy?" an exhausted red headed Ranma asked as she doubled over panting. Her Long Red locks spilling over her shoulders. Winter made a gesture with her wrist, sending an odd sensation Ranma's way. She recognized it as an attempt to disenchant her hair. When the hair stayed red. Ranma smirked and said "See! it's natural this time."

Winter laughed, "Show me."

"How?..I...NO!" Ranma yelled back "PERVERT!" Which only caused Winter to laugh harder. "Why do I have to do it like this anyway? Why can't I just throw up glamors?

Winter answered, "Because glamors can be disenchanted just like your male form, but by using the power of your divine spark you can change the very physical make up of your body which makes the change invulnerable to such meddling."

"So it's going to be just as hard to change back?" Ranma asked.

"No, it'll get easier as you become better at it." Winter answered.

"Can I change into a guy?" Ranma asked hopefully.

Winter shrugged and said, "Superficially, but you'll still be a woman on the inside and you won't be able to sire children. It'd also be hard to maintain, since it's such a drastic change."

Ranma sighed, as black spread from the roots of her hair to the tips, as if someone had poured ink on her head. "Well I guess I'll just have to get home and jump into the spring of drowned boy then..."

"That's the spirit." Winter Replied. "Now to the next lesson."

Ranma groaned.

Ryoga was lost again. He squinted in the blowing rain. Somehow the desert had become a strange watery landscape. misshapen stone fountains dotted the shallow basin spraying steaming water into the air. Within the ankle deep water black forms swirled and darted.

Ryoga stopped, "Where the hell am I now?"

Ranma pirouetted and curtsied for her teacher. "How's that you old bag?" Ranma was dressed in a form fitting approximation of her old Chinese clothes.

Winter scoffed, "Old bag... That's funny, from someone who's having trouble looking me in the eye" She held a hand over her chest and artfully raised it to her chin. "I'm up here you know."

"It's not like you're wearing anything!" Ranma yelled.

"Again, you're one to talk, I bet you're wearing boxer shorts under those pants right now. You do know the effect unbound breasts have on males, yet you refuse to wear proper undergarments." Ranma self consciously crossed her arms over her chest. "Now, I like it, aside from the color, yellow doesn't really suit you." Winter grinned, "How about red?"

Ryoga jumped as a slimy black tentacle lashed the space he had occupied a second ago. Ryoga landed in the warm water and turned around. Small fires bloomed in his palms as he steeled himself, cupped his palms to his mouth, and blew. Horrid screams could be heard as the ball of flame enveloped the dark creatures.

"Hellfire" Ryoga proudly said as she turned around and started walking again. "I wonder what Ranma's up to right now."

"Hey what's the big Idea?" A very wet female Ranma yelled out indignantly. She had to concentrate to avoid slipping off the branch she had been standing on.

"Not bad, do it again!" Winter shouted from a branch thirty feet away. "Come get me stud!" Winter laughed and took off again. disappearing and reappearing randomly through the trees. Ranma concentrated finding the "string" that would activate her curse and became male again. He then concentrated on the branch Winter had been occupying. He couldn't jump as quickly or as many times as Winter no matter how he tried, and she was getting to be annoying with that bucket.

Freezing water once again fell on Ranma as he stepped off of reality. she floundered for a moment within the chaos between, and popped back into existence a few feet short. Ranma pinwheeled her arms for a second before gravity took it's hold, pulling her to the ground.

"Ouch." Ranma moaned. A bucket fell into the mud in front of her vision.

"You'll never catch me if you're more worried about your appearance Ranma," Winter said from the branches above. Ranma grumbled and climbed to her feet, concentrated on a branch to Winter's right, and "jumped."

"Breaking point!" Ryoga drilled his finger into the earth, and smiled as the ground exploded around him. The little green creatures swarming him shrieked and cowered as sharp rocks buffeted them. Those who weren't laying dead at the lost boy's feet scampered back to the safety of a nearby cave.

Ryoga smirked and held out his hand, with four outstretched fingers. "Breaking point revised: Earth Sunder." Ryoga jammed his hand into the ground before him. A large crack formed between his legs and kept spreading on towards the cave holding the imp like creatures. The cave began to collapse within. Ryoga smiled at the destruction and stepped to the side, avoiding falling into the expanding chasm.

"That's that." He said dusting off his hands.

Ranma began tapping his foot impatiently. "So how long are we going to stand out here anyway." Ranma was dressed in something resembling the local mens wear. His hair hung straight, bound in a simple pony tail which reached his thighs.

"Hmm," Winter hummed. She wore a oddly conservative robe with a slivery blue shawl covering her hair. "I expected them to be here by now, but they're on their way." She smiled to Ranma, "You look...very manly." She then busted out in giggles.

"I don't see what's so damn funny." Ranma grumbled. He had been getting progressively grumpier the past week.

Winter only giggled harder. "You'll see." she finally managed.

Ranma grunted and started pacing. "Stupid old bag, wonder why she hasn't hit me with the bucket yet."

"Hello!?" An unfamiliar voice called from the forest. "Anyone there?"

"Louis's voice joined the first "Ranma? Grandmother Winter?" Ranma reaches out with her senses and finds him in the trees along with another wolf.

Impatient as always Ranma 'walked to their location, appearing between the two startled men. Louis' friend was a blond haired and blue eyed man with glasses. Both men took a few steps backward from the young man that appeared between them.

Louis' startled look faded quickly. "Ranma? Figures you'd try to dress up as a man."

"SHUT UP!" Ranma roared and punched Louis, sending him into a tree. Ranma glowered at the newcomer before turning around and disappearing.

Louis peeled himself off the tree trunk, "Oh, what did I do to piss her off this time?"

"Well, it does smell like we came at a bad time." His friend replied. "Don't worry, she'll be better in a couple weeks."

"If she doesn't kill us before then, you mean" Louis said, rubbing his back. "Why did I come back?"

Winter took one look at Ranma as he reappeared and busted out laughing. "What!?" Ranma yelled.

"For one, I told you that your curse wouldn't fool the Garou. Second, do you even know why you're upset right now?"

"Because everyone's being retarded?" Ranma asked.

Winter shook her head. "I'll explain it later." she thought.

Louis and his friend made it to the hovel shortly after. Ranma managed to calm down a little, but was still irritable.

Louis gestured towards his friend with a flourish and said, "Ladies, I'd like you to meet my friend Adrien."

The blond man bowed to Winter and Ranma, only to notice that Ranma wasn't paying attention. The crossdressing girl had her eyes squeezed shut while holding one of her forearms. She looked to be in pain. "Ranma, miss, are you alright?"

Ranma winced at being called miss, but was in too much pain to bite back. The bones in his arm were on fire. "I'm fine, It's nothing."

Adrien reached out and grabbed Ranma's forearm. he could feel mana boiling within her flesh. Adrien looked first to Ranma and then to Winter. "What happened to her? Never mind, everyone step back." Adrien embraced Ranma from behind, closed his eyes and started to chant. Ranma's form flickered and warped. The image of a strong young man faded and was replaced with a petite young girl. Her form flickered again and thin white lines began to appear on her body. Ugly purple bruises began to spread along her neck and wrists.

"Oh my." Winter gasped, "She's farther along than I thought."

Ranma began to shake. Adrien turned her around and held her to his chest as he rubbed the small of her back, still chanting. Both persons began to glow green in the darkness. After what seemed like hours, the light faded, and Ranma collapsed against the wolf.

Winter rushed forward, "Ranma! Wake up sweety." She took the girl from the wolf and lowered her too the floor.

Adrien sighed as he looked at the girls. "She's dieing. You know that right? This'll keep happening over and over again until one day she bursts into flames."

Winter looked up, "I know. That's why we need you. She knows someone who can help her, but he's in another world."

Adrien was surprised, "Another world? Your trying to summon a planeswalker? Are you nuts?"

Winter smiled, "Not all planeswalkers are evil or all powerful. In fact, a second ago you were holding one." Adrien did a double take, and took a hard look at the dieing girl in Winter's arms. "Like you said, Ranma is dieing, her ley lines have been almost completely burned out. Her master, Tofu, has somehow been keeping her alive, but how I do not know. Since she arrived here, her health has been steadily decreasing. We need to summon Tofu to save Ranma's life. That's why I need you to show her the forest."

Adrien relented, "Ok, I'll do it to save her life, After she bonds with the lands I'm out of here. I'm not going to be around when you two summon and alien god."

"Thank you," Winter replied.

"Ok, that's settled then. "Louis said happily, "Told you I knew the right guy. The best part is, he's absolutely guaranteed not to bother you ladies like I would if I didn't fear for my life."

Adrien glared at Louis, "This way," He said. "I know a spring not far from here, it's rich in mana, and it'll help Ranma heal up a bit." Louis picked up Ranma and followed.

Ranma blearily opened her eyes, finding herself in a pool of cold crystal clear water. Her first thought was that the water was really cold, her second, was that she was naked, in the pool with Winter, while the blond Garou looked on.

"Eeeep!" Ranma shrieked, "What's he doing here?"

Winter tried to calm Ranma, "It's ok Ranma. Louis is watching the camp. Adrien is here in case you get sick again.

"But, He's.."

"Ranma, he's gay. You have more to worry about from me than you do from him. That's why Louis brought him."

Ranma wasn't convinced, "How can a Garou be gay, you told me they'd hit anything warm blooded."

"Well, it's rare, but it happens. Sometimes the individual's original sexuality overcomes the drive to spread lycanthropy." Winter said, then turned to Adrien, "Could you go check on Louis, I'll call you if there's any trouble."

"Of course, ma'am." Adrien said, and hastily retreated.

"So," Winter started, "how is your arm?"

Ranma held up her right arm, from her wrist to her elbow was covered in an ugly purple bruise. "I, I can't move my hand!" Ranma cried. She looked at Winter, "What happened, All I remember is my arm starting to burn, and that wolf grabbing me from behind." She tried to flex her fingers again, all she could do was move her arm. "And now my right hand's useless."

"We don't know what happened, your arm started burning from within. I think it has to do with the mana burn you suffered. Adrien, that's the wolf's name, said this will keep happening unless your ley lines are healed." Winter replied.

"That's why we're here, to summon Tofu." Ranma sighed. She looked up at the sky. The barest hint of a blue ring could be seen between the leaves of the canopy. "I guess I should start looking around. Where are my clothes?" Winter gestured to a white and brown dress, with Ranma's cloak. "Where are the pants?"

"Not with the garou around. You're a girl to them whatever form you take, and the dress leaves more to the imagination than those pants. Come on, get dressed."

Louis poked at the fire with a stick he had found by the his and Adrien's tent. He was worried about Ranma. It had been hours since they had reached the pool, and Ranma had not yet woken up. "There's no reason to be worried," He said to himself, "Adrien and Winter are with her."

That was when he heard footsteps coming up the path. A quick sniff confirmed it to be Adrien. "Well, she's awake," Adrien began, "Wasn't to happy to see me though." He sat down next to Louis, "How are you holding up?"

"I'm alright. Kinda worried about Ranma." He looked up. "Winter's right, she's been sick since she came to this world."

"Is she really a planeswalker?" Adrien asked.

"I don't know, all I know is that I saw her fall from the sky. Then she walked on water, right into the arms of the vampires." Louis stared into the fire. "I followed the carriage to the castle and snuck in. It didn't matter to me that there were wings and wings of unspoiled girls in there, all I cared about was saving her from unlife."

"It's weird, you know? When I look at any other girl, it's like fire, in my chest, almost painful. When I look at Ranma, it feels, good, satisfying." Louis laughed. "It's like, when I'm near her, I don't need to have sex, or food, or anything."

Adrien smiled. "I know what that is, it's love." He poked Louis in the arm, "You're turning human my friend."

Louis, looked up with a start. "Can she do that? Can she make us human again?"

Ranma danced around a bit. taking small circular steps as she drew ki from the forest and the magic spring. her cloak catching the wind as she moved. Green was different from the ki she normally drew. This ki was alive, wild, yet at the same time, it was peaceful, orderly. It reminded Ranma of the doctor.

The doctor. Ranma thought of Doctor Tofu and attempted to mold her ki to match his, Green, and Blue. She could feel him, smell him, but she couldn't reach him. Ranma sighed, and manifested the drawn ki.

A whirlwind of leaves and small butterflies swirled around her. She looked at her ruined hand, and gasped in surprise as it opened, revealing a folded piece of paper.

Ranma took it with her good hand and unfolded it. She was surprised that her right hand now worked, if a little painfully.

The note read, "Almost there Ranma. Keep trying, Tofu."

Winter, Adrien, and Louis looked up as Ranma walked into camp. She seemed healthier somehow.

Winter looked at Ranma and said. "How did it go? I felt something at the spring."

"Alright." Ranma replied, showing off her hand. "I think I almost had him. He sent me a note." Ranma turned to Adrien, "Sorry about earlier, but I'm not to keen on becoming a werewolf, especially since it's not by bite like in the stories."

Adrien nodded. "I can fully understand."

Ranma sat down and looked at the sky. The eclipse hung there. The cracks she had seen in Earth's sky still eluded her. Ranma sighed.

"What's it like to travel between worlds?" Louis asked.

"Huh?" Ranma asked startled. "What do you mean?"

"What's it feel like, how do you do it? Is it like when you teleported between us earlier?"

"No," Ranma said, thinking. "It's weird. I was fighting with my friend when there was this earthquake. We both found ourselves on our backs watching the sky crack open. In the cracks were other worlds. Some where beautiful, others nightmarish. This one just called to me somehow. Next thing I knew, I wound up here, falling in the lake."

Ryoga stopped before an iron gate. Beyond it, pained howling could be heard. In order to advance up the mountain, he would have to fight whatever was on the other side. He looked up to the tops of the cliffs on either side, where a small audience had formed. They were no matter, Ryoga had warned them. They thought they would see the boy smashed into the dirt. They'd be lucky if they lived another day.

"Release the monster!" an elder shouted. The iron gates parted, and the beast behind roared. Out strode an enormous monster. Twenty feet tall. Broad as a barn. with six arms and massive jaws. It regarded Ryoga with both disgust and hunger.

"Here piggy, piggy, piggy." the monster chanted as it thundered forward.

Ryoga laughed. "This'll be fun. HELLFIRE!"

Ranma laughed at the antics of the little creature she held. It was about the size of a small dog, and chittered constantly, why trying it's best to wrap itself in Ranma's hair. Adrien had called it a glider and told her that the thing flew using the folds of skin between it's legs. Ranma just thought it was the cutest damn thing ever, in a non-girly way of course.

The two wolves were playing some card game in camp. Louis was winning, much to Adrien's annoyance. Ranma was surprised that their shouting hadn't scared the glider away. The two reminded her of her old man and Akane's father when they played shogi. Always accusing the other of cheating.

Winter had run off somewhere. Being a fellow planeswalker, she could have easily been halfway around the world and she'd be able to jump back in less than a second, but something told Ranma she was at the lake studying the water. Ranma had no idea how she knew that, she just did.

Another shout from below finally did the job of scaring the glider away. It gave a startled yelp and jumped into the night, using it's skin just as Adrien had said. Ranma huffed and jumped down from the tree to give the wolves a piece of her mind.

Winter returned to the sound of fighting. The two garou were rolling around in the dirt around the remains of a card game. Both were half formed and trying to bite one another. Winter shook her head and walked around them. As long as they weren't doing anything nasty in the open they could beat each other up as long as they want.

"Knock it off you two!" Winter heard Ranma yell. "You two idiots scared him off."

"He started it." Louis mumbled. He had a few cuts on his muzzle, but was other wise ok. He reached up and scratched behind his ear before turning back to his normal form.

"I started it? You were cheating!" Adrien yelled.

"That's enough." Winter snapped. "You boys behave or I'll put you in time out, and I guarantee you won't like it." that was enough for the wolves, who instantly shut up.

"Good dogs," she said. She turned to Ranma, who was looking at her oddly. "What?"

Ranma asked, "Why do you have a flask full of water?"

"I'm going to run some tests on it, to see why the river's warming up." Winter replied. "It's not something that usually happens in a world like this. We don't have factories and powerplants here, well, except for the castle of course, but this river doesn't flow from that direction."

"So, what does it mean then." Ranma asked.

"Don't know yet. If you need me for something I'll be in the tent, but knock first, things will be moved around in there." Winter's "tent" housed as much interior space as her hovel, which was quite a lot.

Ranma shook her head and wandered off. "Everyone's been acting so weird this week," she thought. She came to a clearing and stopped. "This is a odd place." The trees surrounding the clearing seemed to hold one another like lovers as they swayed in the breeze. Within the clearing stood rings and rings of mushrooms with small bugs flittering around them.

Ranma carefully stepped into the clearing and opened her senses, hoping to be ready if an off the wall demon popped out and tried to marry her or something. The clearing felt alive, all of it. Ranma began drawing ki from the trees and fairy rings. She thought back to the healing spring feeling it's water around her. She thought of Jusenkyo, Phoenix Mountain, Mount Fuji, the Tendo Dojo. Finally, she thought of Doctor Tofu.

Winter was interrupted from her studies by a crackle of thunder. "Hmm, I wonder what Ranma's doing." she thought while she adjusted the knob of an odd machine.

Laying in the Garou tent, Adrien felt himself woken by a strange feeling, It was mana, lots of it. Beside him Louis mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Ranma" and turned over. Rain started to pelt the roof of the tent.

"That must be her." Adrien thought. "She's summoning her master." He shivered at the thought.

Suddenly the mana reached an almost painful crescendo and, how best to describe this, lurched. A piercing scream could be heard from the north.

"Ranma!" Louis shouted as he bolted from bed and out of the tent. Adrien followed.

Ranma looked up at an awesome sight. Above Ranma lightning crackled between the blue and green feathers as mist and ice fell with each beat of massive wings. Beneath Ranma grass and flowers began to flourish, the fairy rings began to grow, to half her height. The beast's serpentine body coiled around Ranma, polished green and blue scales glittering in the soft light of the electrical arcs overhead.. Great crouching legs held the coiling bulk just above the ground. A great beaked maw lowered it's self before the trembling girl, wreathed by huge jade horns and sapphire whiskers. The dragon lowered it's beak giving Ranma a good look at it's eyes. The Left was blue, the right, green.

"**Ranma?"** dragon breathed. It's voice sounded like a thousand bells chiming at once, each carrying a different tune. Ranma heard a deep rumbling from overhead. It sounded like laughter.

"Ranma!" Louis' voice echoed from the forest. Ranma saw him and his friend burst through the tree line, only to stop short and stare in awe at the dragon's coiled form. Louis fell on his butt and started crawling backwards. Adrien stood his ground, but trembled slightly.

Ranma wished Winter were here. She'd know what to do with the beast that came in Tofu's place. It obviously belonged to Tofu, as it reeked of his magic "scent." She gave the Garou one last look before she looked back up to the dragons face.

Nothing was there. "Ranma, what's with the Little Red Riding Hood costume?" Ranma turns around to see the doctor standing there with an honest smile plastered on his face. "And you grew your, ooof!" Doctor Tofu was interrupted by a flying glomp. "Um," He said, "That's not very manly."

Ranma got as far as "I don't give a," before she broke down into sobs.

Winter stood before her tent. She was once again dressed in her revealing sliver blue slip. Two silver orbs hung in the air over her shoulders. She watched, warily, for the arrival of Ranma and her master. It wasn't that she didn't trust the other planeswalker, she trusted him to likewise be on guard. It was a planeswalker thing. One of the few benefits of being trapped under the masked gaze of her mythological suitor, according to one of the stories, was that she no longer had to worry about fighting off her own kind.

In a way, tending to Ranma had been an almost instinctual act, a need to ensure the future of her race. In place of the children she could no longer bear, as she was no longer truly human, there had been a need to mother the poor lost girl. The past week had been one of the happiest in a long time, even before her last glimpse of daylight. Perhaps they could be a family, a quiet family living in the woods without a care in the world.

Winter shook her head. Ranma was far too young to hide away the years in darkness. And her stolen memories of Doctor Tofu didn't give her any confidence in quiet home life. Tofu was a meddler. He was a gardener who grew empires and dug them out of the ground when their time had passed.

No, Winter would be welcoming but firm. Tofu would take Ranma, and she would once again be alone, in the darkness.

"So about your hair." Tofu said as he and Ranma walked. Two anxious werewolves following behind at a safe distance.

"What about it? Is it still red? I could have sworn I changed it back." Ranma babbled reaching behind her to grab at her long pony tail.

"It's, different." Tofu said, "I never thought you'd change from that pigtail you always wore. Even after that dragon's whisker wore off you still bound your hair with it."

"Well," Ranma began, "I lost the dragon's whisker." Ranma began playing with the ends of her hair as she walked. "Ryoga cut it off during our fight. When I got here there were these girls who were arguing over how it should be cut. One of them cut it like Nabiki's. I guess when I didn't like it my body reacted somehow." Ranma unbound the red ribbon at the base of her neck and swished her hand to the side. The hair rose up along with her hand, braiding it's self as it went.

Tofu nodded, impressed. "Nice." Ranma smiled and began tyeing the ribbon around the ends of her hair. "Wait Ranma. You lost the Whisker right?" He reached behind his head and yanked. In his hand was an iridescent blue and green hair, almost a centimeter thick and longer than her arm. "I'm afraid my hair won't help you if you ever go bald. Unchecked growth is more my sister Ariel's domain. A broth from my whisker will cure any sickness or ailment, however you will age rapidly. A young person will become old, and an old person will die soon after being cured.." Tofu laughed. "There are much better uses for a dragon's whisker than soup."

Ranma tied the whisker in her hair. She could feel a soft tingle as she tied the last knot. This whisker was much longer than her old one, the one from Tofu's sister, aparently. It also shimmered in the eclipse light. "That last one belonged to your sister?" Ranma asked.

Tofu replied "Yes."

"Why was it so dull and short."

"Because it was very old, Ariel left Earth long ago." Tofu made a face, "Being used for stock didn't help either, such a waste of a powerful artifact. Ariel's whiskers are white and green, and she wears them in long cables. She's actually very beautiful."

"You're a dragon." Ranma said. "Uriel too."

"Can't put anything past you dear." Tofu replied.

Ranma looked up. "Can it cure my curse?"

Tofu sighed. "Let me put it this way. You'll never change genders again" Ranma's hopes soared. "But you'll live out your short life as an elderly woman."

"Damn," Ranma muttered. "It's like you said in the dream, I can only be cured by the Nannichuan."

"Yes, and it decides whether you are worthy."

Ranma decided to ask about something else. "What does Uriel's whisker do?"

"It makes you wise." Tofu answered, "So wise that you become afraid to do anything for fear of the consequences, and so guilty for past deeds that you wallow in despair. Most who take it starve or commit suicide."

"Originally, Ariel's hair would make a persons' hair grow, as well as their blood, their saliva, bile and humor. The person who drank it's broth would feel more alive, more sensual, stronger and quicker than ever in their life, however, within a day the imbiber would burst in a shower of blood and gore. Many heroes, men and women, have sacrificed themselves to save their peoples in Ariel's name. It's effect must have withered with age and use." Tofu adjusted his glasses. "Only a fool would attempt to drink the essence of an Archon."

"We're home!" Ranma called out. "Winter? Come meet Tofu!" Two silver balls floated down from the canopy. Ranma cringed and gripped Tofu's hand.

The flap of Winter's tent parted and she stepped out. She was wearing her slip again. Behind her Ranma could hear Louis gasp.

"So you're the East Wind." Winter said coolly. She circled around staring hard at the doctor.

"Yep, that's me, ol' harbinger of Spring." He smirked and asked, "What can I do for you snowflake?"

Winter cocked her head. She couldn't see even the slightest bit of aggression in his manner. "You're not even the slightest bit interested in fighting are you?"

"Against what, a Winter Orb? My master created those." Tofu held up his hand where another silver ball shimmered into view. "Besides, I have a key myself."

"Key?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, this 'Icy manipulator' as Winter calls it" Tofu held up the sliver ball "is the key to the Winter Orb, allowing it to be controlled safely. Using the orb by itself is incredibly dangerous and stupid, but with the key, it can be quite effective."

Tofu turned back to Winter, "No I came here to be with this beauty." He ruffled Ranma's hair. This prompted a snort and an "I'm a guy" from Ranma. "I've been keeping her alive since she went and almost killed herself."

Winter's look softened a bit as she watched Tofu ruffle try to ruffle Ranma's hair. It didn't quite work as Ranma's long hair was tightly braided. That lead to Ranma stealing Tofu's glasses, who in turn twisted Ranma's arm around her back, who somehow threw the doctor over her shoulder.

Winter laughed at the two's antics. "When you two are finished, I think it'd be best if we went home."

Ranma huffed, as she crested the hill. The going back had proven much easier thanks to Tofu's treatments. Behind her, Adrien and Tofu were talking about healing magic. Louis wasn't making a sound, but Ranma could feel him. He seemed, jealous.

Tofu stopped and looked down the hill. Small glowing dots could be seen in the darker line in the center of the valley. "Huh. Is it a common thing here for fish to die en masse?"

"I dunno," Ranma answered. "Winter mentioned something about the water last night. Where is she anyway?"

Tofu held out his hand. "Come on Ranma, lets go see." Ranma took his hand and they winked out.

Winter looked up from the water as she felt her fellow planeswalkers rejoin reality. "Ranma, stick your hand in the water."

Ranma asked "Why?"

"It's warm." Winter replied frowning.

"Really?" Ranma knelt to the bank and stuck her hand through the water. "Ouch! it's hot!" He yelled as he pulled his hand out.

Tofu looked at the now male Ranma, wearing a dress, and tried to control his laughter.

"Hey!" Ranma sputtered.

"You know what's really funny Ranma?" Winter began. "You still look like a girl." Tofu started laughing.

"I do NOT!" Ranma yelled, now angry. He hurriedly unraveled his glamor, becoming a girl again.

"Calm down Ranma." Tofu said "Winter, where does this river flow from?"

"The mountains, where else?" Winter pointed Northeast. "That way, past the castle, far past the castle."

"We'll be Right back." Tofu looked to Ranma. "Keep a hold of my hand Ranma. We're going to jump a long way, and I don't want you getting lost."

Ranma stared up at the decidedly not frozen peaks before her. Smoke was rising in the eerie blue twilight.

"Oh, wow." Tofu breathed. "Ranma for once in your life do you think you can avoid trouble?"

"What do you mean?" Ranma began. Suddenly a line of piercing blue light illuminated the top peaks of the mountain range. There was a loud rumble as the mountains began to explode, fire and rock raining down the range.

"Holy shit!" Ranma gasped. "Um, we need to go, Tofu. TOFU?"

"Look up."

Ranma did and was surprised to find the dawn sky cracking and splitting. Ranma could feel her soul pulling her towards the other worlds peaking through the sky. "We can go home," she said.

"Ranma, the sunlight is moving towards us. We should warn Winter." Tofu said, pulling on her hand. "The sunlight will destroy everything."

"Yea," Ranma agreed, "It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak. But how do we stop the sun?"

"I don't know," Tofu said, "We'll have a few days, first we should see what Winter knows. Come one."

Closing song: The Red, by Chevel.

**Yes I did change the way the Winter Orb and Icy Manipulator work for the sake of story. In the game the Icy would only protect Winter from the Orb's effect, In this story, the Icy allows Winter more options to control the other orb allowing her to turn it completely off, or to only effect a small area. We could always just assume it's because Winter is a Rimewind Cyromancer, so she knows how to control it better than say, you or I. **


End file.
